Truth can often be stranger than fiction. Take the case of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his pet project, the creation of a vertical, suborbital spacecraft and privately funded, manned space flight. To that end, over a decade ago, Bezos formed a corporate entity called Blue Origin LLC. Over the year, scientists and others (including a science fiction writer) were hired for the enterprise. Much of their work was done in a warehouse that's a manageable drive from Amazon's Seattle headquarters. During the Bush-Cheney era, Bezos also purchased land in Texas. The acreage formed the core of his version of Cape Kennedy.It was from its Lone Star State property that Bezos and his Blue Origin team got the blues. On August 24th, a Blue Origin launch went wrong, resulting in the craft's crash in especially remote areas of West Texas. According to an MSNBC report, Bezos did not make the announcement until September 2nd, when The Wall Street Journal reported the story and forced his hand. September 2nd happened to be the Friday of the Labor Day holiday weekend, ideal for the release of bad news. (Ironically, a Russian spacecraft also crashed after launch on August 24th.)
While Bezos has enthusiastically spoken about space travel, Blue Origin is a very secretive outfit. It reminds one of James Bond-style villains: egotistical, driven to achieve world domination, ruthless. If 007 is in the house, we might need him now, before Blue Origin becomes a name the world dreads.
The image shows the Blue Origin unmanned vertical, suborbital spacecraft.
No comments:
Post a Comment