Is Boeing thinking about unloading some of its space business? Is Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture a potential buyer? And in light of former President Donald Trump’s increasingly close relationship with SpaceX founder Elon Musk, how are Bezos and Blue Origin reaching out to the GOP candidate?
Such speculation is fueled by several reports about space-related (and Bezos-related) developments over just the past couple of days. Here’s a quick rundown:
Boeing considers trimming back space programs: Citing unidentified sources, The Wall Street Journal reports that Boeing is exploring the idea of handing off some of its roles in space programs for NASA — including its unprofitable Starliner space taxi development program.
The Journal says such discussions are still at an early stage and may not result in a deal. But the strategy is in line with recently appointed CEO Kelly Ortberg’s plan to streamline Boeing’s business lines in light of its financial crisis. This week the company announced a quarterly loss of $6 billion, and union workers voted to continue a costly strike affecting Boeing’s airplane factories.
Starliner has been costly as well, due to $1.85 billion in overruns that haven’t been covered by Boeing’s fixed-price contract with NASA. This summer’s first crewed Starliner mission to the International Space Station was marred by thruster issues that resulted in the capsule being sent back down to Earth uncrewed. The two astronauts who rode Starliner to the ISS will have to stay in orbit until a SpaceX Dragon brings them down next year.
Boeing also has served as the prime contractor for the space station — but with ISS operations scheduled to wind down in the 2030 time frame, the company is exploring an arrangement to transfer that support role to a different company, the Journal reports. United Launch Alliance, Boeing’s joint venture with Lockheed Martin, has also long been rumored to be up for sale.
The Journal says some of its sources expect Boeing to hang onto its satellite business, as well as its role as a major contractor for NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket.
Could Blue Origin step in? According to the Journal’s sources, Boeing has held discussions with Blue Origin about taking over some of the NASA programs. Such discussions reportedly took place before Ortberg became Boeing’s CEO.
Blue Origin has a couple of potential lines of business that could be a good match for what Boeing’s currently doing in space. Last year, for example, the company began a collaboration with NASA to explore developing new capabilities for crew transportation to and from low Earth orbit. Having a crew capsule would complement the capabilities of Blue Origin’s orbital-class New Glenn rocket, which is currently being prepared for its first launch.
Boeing is already one of the partners backing Orbital Reef, a commercial space station project led by Blue Origin. The plan calls for Boeing’s Starliner capsule and Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser space plane to transport crew and cargo to and from Orbital Reef. Would Blue Origin take over the Starliner program, or develop its own crew vehicle to take over Starliner’s role? If NASA puts more money into Orbital Reef, might ISS operations be part of the deal?
Any of those strategies would be a big step for Bezos’ space venture, which already has its hands full with New Glenn, Orbital Reef, the New Shepard suborbital space program and the Blue Moon lunar lander that’s being built for NASA’s use. But as Boeing’s executives consider how it might pare down its unprofitable lines of business, it’s worth watching what Blue Origin is doing as well.
We’ve reached out to Boeing and Blue Origin, and will update this report with anything we can pass along.
Blue Origin and Jeff Bezos attract notice on the political scene: The Washington Post and its owner, Jeff Bezos, made news on Friday when the newspaper announced that it would not make an endorsement in the presidential contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump. It soon came out that the Post’s staff had prepared an editorial endorsing Harris, but that Bezos spiked it.
Also on Friday, Trump made a campaign stop in Austin, Texas — and stopped along the way in an airport hangar for a quick chat with Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp and Megan Mitchell, the company’s vice president for government relations.
There haven’t been any details about the context for the meet-and-greet or about what was said. But some observers linked up the two developments to suggest that Bezos and the executives at his ventures were making efforts to smooth relations with Trump. Back in 2015, the two men stirred up something of a flame war on Twitter, now known as X. Since then, Bezos has brought down the temperature, going so far as to praise Trump on X for his “tremendous grace and courage” after July’s assassination attempt.
Now X is owned by Musk — who also founded SpaceX, the dominant player in the space industry. Musk is one of Bezos’ longtime business rivals. He’s also one of Trump’s biggest and most vocal backers. If Trump wins, Musk has agreed to support his efforts to reduce federal spending — perhaps as the leader of a “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE.
Considering the Bezos-Musk rivalry, it might make political sense for Blue Origin to have its own points of contact with Trump, just in case. It would be tricky to untangle the web of connections involving Trump, Musk and SpaceX, Blue Origin and Bezos. Nevertheless, we’ve reached out to the Trump campaign and to Blue Origin about this, and we’ll pass along anything we can report.
https://ift.tt/Qcy2Vtk October 26, 2024 at 05:39PM GeekWire
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