Amazon founder and the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos is making moves in order get his space firm Blue Origin into the production phase to meet his set deadline of 2020 for the launch of it’s anticipated heavy rocket the New Glenn.
Blue Origin is currently in what can be described as a recruitment frenzy, as it’s been hiring hundreds of engineers for the last three years, and still plans to bolster it’s numbers to 3000 employees over the next two to three years, according to Reuters.
Blue Origin’s efforts to strengthen it’s workforce can be attributed to it’s commitment to the successful launch of the New Glenn, a heavy-launch vehicle which Bezos claims will be able to haul satellites and, eventually, people into orbit. The New Glenn’s first stage booster will be reusable in order to reduce costs and increase efficiency and frequency of launches, much like Elon Musk’s Falcon Heavy.
Blue Origin’s engineers are in the final stages of design and will soon begin producing the vital components that will then go trough rigorous testing, according to Reuters, who cite people familiar with the project that requested anonymity since they’re not authorized to speak publicly.