Bezos' ambition is space manufacturing/mining, contrasted with Elon's dream of Mars colonization. It will be interesting to see how that affects the way things play out.<p>Elon's greatest contribution is to raise the bar for everyone else. I hope Bezos accomplishes great things in space too.
Interesting that Bezos new rocket will be using Liquified Natural Gas, LNG.
Cheap and I suspect inherently safer and eaiser to handle than Kerosene or Hydrogen, though slightly less energy dense. Safer because is same temp as Liquid Oxygen, SpaceX may I think have caused reliability problems for themselves using super cooled Oxygen.
I only wish Bezos success in this endeavor.<p>I had a chance to visit Johnson Space Center last summer and it was like a space lovers pilgrimage to witness the miracles of science and man.<p>The Saturn V is on display and it was so amazing taking it all in. It is massive. It is hard to imagine it can even leave the ground.<p>I took a few pictures (potato quality)<p><a href="http://imgur.com/a/hsr00" rel="nofollow">http://imgur.com/a/hsr00</a>
i really enjoy space movies, and i like the nasa missions of history and this excellent Blue Origin project. I wish i had studied orbital physics or something, and work at Blue Origin or the JPL. But, imagining the galactic history books of the future, I'm also at peace with the idea that the earth is the first and only home of humanity.
Makes me think of this other Ars story: <a href="http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/we-love-spacex-and-we-hope-it-reaches-mars-but-we-spacex-to-focus/" rel="nofollow">http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/09/we-love-spacex-and-we...</a><p>I'm glad these guys are making waves in getting stuff to space, but maybe they should focus on getting one or two people to LEO, which none of them have even tried to do yet, before they start thinking about colonizing other planets.
I really like this rocket because you can see with the naked eye that it is really stable. They designed powerful enough engines, good enough software to keep it very stable. When you watch a SpaceX landing it's like watching a sports event: you wish more than you are certain.