Bezos opens doors to Blue Origin and plans human space test flights by 2017

Private space travel company Blue Origin expects to launch its first human test flights in 2017, company founder Jeff Bezos has said. The travellers would not be paying customers, he said, but thousands have expressed interest in paying for a trip on a suborbital craft. Blue Origin, founded in 2000, has launched a ship twice and it landed safely. The company plans to keep testing until its usefulness is done then switch to other ships being built to test human flight. The real money will be made selling rocket engines to others planning to launch satellites and spaceships, Mr Bezos said.

I only pursue things that I am passionate about.

Jeff Bezos

He said he was not ready to share exactly how much he had invested in the space venture, saying just that all the high-tech equipment and about 600 employees added up to “a very significant number”. The media-shy company said welcoming the press to its development floor was a first step towards more openness, but all but a few photographs of the facility were banned. Mr Bezos said he was not concerned about his competition to build the next generation of rocket engines because society would need lots of help moving industry and people off the planet.

Jeff Bezos