Bezos’ Blue Origin creates Advisory Board
December 3, 2020
By Chris Forrester
Jeff Bezos has appointed some notable space leaders and industry executives to an Advisory Board for his Blue Origin rocket business.
“The Board will provide strategic counsel on the company’s mission to radically reduce the cost of access to space and the utilisation of in-space resources. In doing so, the Board will further advance Blue Origin’s vision of millions of people living and working in space to benefit the Earth,” says Blue Origin.
“This Board will help us drive our mission forward, provide us guidance on our key initiatives and serve as strategic advisors to our leadership team,” added Bob Smith, CEO at Blue Origin.
The Blue Origin Advisory Board members are:
• The Honorable Kari A. Bingen – Former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security
• Dr. Charles Elachi – Former Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Dr. Dan Hastings – Aeronautics and Astronautics Department Head, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and former Chief Scientist, US Air Force
• Major General Sue Mashiko, USAF (Ret.) – Former Deputy Director, National Reconnaissance Office
• Todd May – SVP/Space and Mission Solutions, KBR and former Director, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
• Bill Smith – Former President, Primex Technologies Aerospace Division
• The Honourable Heather Wilson – President, University of Texas at El Paso, former Secretary of the US Air Force, and former Member, US House of Representatives
Blue Origin was founded in 2000 in Kent, Washington, and began developing both rocket propulsion systems and launch vehicles. Bezos is funding Blue Origin to the tune of $1 billion annually.
In March 2017, Bezos announced that Blue Origin had acquired its first paying launch customer for orbital satellite launches. Eutelsat is expected to start launching TV satellites in 2022 on Blue Origin’s New Glenn orbital launch vehicle.