More News About Rockets

On Monday Blue Origins, the start-up aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos (of Amazon.com fame) reached a minor milestone. They have been building a spaceport in an enormous expanse of West Texas scrub, and for the first time there was a rocket launch at the facility yesterday. Few details are known publicly, and accrding to FAA documents it was a small effort - but nevertheless, a first step.

And the slow and steady progress of the nascent human spaceflight industry continues. Bezos' slow-and-steady approach of innovation and investment is a contrast to the early success of Burt Rutan or the marketing glitz of Virgin Galactic. But there can be no doubt that progress is being made.

And relationships have started to form between start-up companies and the giant old aerospace companies of yore. Lockheed-Martin and Bigelow Aerospace recently announced a partnership to study the conversion of the Atlas V launch vehicle into a "human rated" vehicle - taking a known, developed technology asset and making it safe for private manned launch.

This represents one of the first times that an entrenched, experienced aerospace company like L-M has moved in the direction of human spaceflight without the federal dollar being dangled in front of it's nose by NASA in the form of cost-plus government contracts. It may be very good news indeed.

[Via the indispensable NasaWatch]

Tags: Spaceflight, Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos, Lockheed Martin