Bezos sees no threat from Musk-Trump ties in the space race

Jeff Bezos in an interview with Reuters on Solar,day mentioned he doesn’t assume SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will use his shut ties with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to undercut his house firm Blue Origin, including he feels “very optimistic” in regards to the incoming administration’s house agenda.

“Elon has been very clear that he is doing this for the general public curiosity and never for his private acquire. And I take him at face worth,” mentioned Bezos, founding father of Blue Origin, which rivals SpaceX within the house business.

Bezos is in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the debut launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn, a 30-story-tall rocket that’s anticipated to chip away at SpaceX’s market dominance and kick-start Blue Origin’s long-delayed entrance into the satellite tv for pc launch enterprise.

Musk, who spent greater than 1 / 4 billion {dollars} to assist elect Trump, has had the president-elect’s ear on house issues and final month mentioned the U.S. ought to ship missions straight to Mars as a substitute of going to the moon first, elevating business considerations of a serious shakeup to NASA’s house exploration program.

“My very own opinion is that we must always do each — we have to go to the moon and we must always go to Mars,” Bezos mentioned when requested if he was involved about adjustments to NASA’s moon program.

“What we should not do is begin and cease issues. We should always proceed with the lunar program for certain,” Bezos mentioned.

Trump in his second time period is anticipated to make sweeping adjustments to NASA’s moon program and focus closely on sending missions to Mars.