important to clear up the difference between 'space' and 'orbit,'' he Not quite 'rarest'. Musk noted that rockets that reach the space station have to go 10 times as fast, and use 100 times the energy, of suborbital rockets that reach the edge of space as Blue Origin did. Musk tweeted congratulations to Bezos and Blue Origin early Tuesday. Related: Amazon CE Jeff Bezos moves up to world's fourth richest man SpaceX is already carrying supplies to ISS. SpaceX and Boeing ( BA) have won contracts from NASA to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. But it has yet to announce how much it will cost or how many people have signed up. The aim eventually is to carry astronauts, including tourists, into space - something NASA no longer does with its own rockets.īlue Origin is taking names of people interested in hopping aboard a future flight. 'I think of our competition primarily as Earth's gravity,' he said. Another is Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which hopes to carry passengers to space in a vehicle launched from an airplane and that lands like a plane on a runway.īezos said he doesn't consider those companies Blue Origin competitors. The rockets have toppled over while attempting to land on a platform in the ocean.īlue Origin and SpaceX are two of the main players in the new business of private space launches. But SpaceX's attempts to travel to outer space and return to upright landings have so far been unsuccessful. Some SpaceX rockets have landed upright in test flights that never left the atmosphere. Rival rocket business SpaceX, which was started by Tesla Motors ( TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, has been trying to land rockets upright as well. 'You can imagine how expensive your ticket would be,' he said.

Rocketship landing