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Blue Origin to help build space station

October 28, 2021

By Chris Forrester

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket company is putting cash into a project to build a commercial space station. Other partners in the project include Sierra Space and Boeing.

In essence, the project has in mind an orbiting ‘business park’ for all manner of commercial concepts including space tourism. The project’s build plan talks about having its first module ready by 2030.

The consortium made their announcement during the 72nd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Dubai and that they will develop a modular orbiting space facility called Orbital Reef, with an initial portion in place by the latter half of this decade and to help to support a transition from the existing International Space Station.

The partners declined to give a specific cost for the project but said they would rely on private investment to start work now as NASA gears up its program to support commercial space stations.

However, the project is not alone. A separate concept, announced on Oct 21 by Nanoracks, Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin in Starlab which says it is planning to form the core of a new space station.

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