Private space companies SpaceX, Blue and Origin

The entry of new commercial enterprises to the space industry has not just revolutionized the industry, but also sparked a new era of inspiration. These companies, SpaceX and Blue Origin, were not just started by billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in the early 2000s, they were born out of a pioneering spirit, a belief in the potential of commercial space flight that was yet to be fully realized.

SpaceX is most known for Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon spacecraft, which are equipped with the ability to be recovered and reused again. It offers cargo logistics services to the International Space Station for NASA, and currently, it sends satellites to the private sector and space agencies. In 2020, SpaceX sent two crews of astronauts to the space station inside its heretofore experimental Crew Dragon capsule, effectively restoring American human spaceflight capability. Still, SpaceX is present and active; it is working on the new rocket known as Starship and the satellite constellation called Starlink to offer broadband internet across the world.

Blue Origin was less active in developing launch vehicles, but they also come on par. It has a suborbital New Shepard rocket to provide brief space tourism and conduct experiments. It recently performed the fourth human spaceflight, where six passengers were taken. On the other hand, Blue Origin is developing New Glenn, an Orbital-class rocket and a lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis project to bring human beings back to the Moon.