A mass simulator version of a New Glenn rocket will move for testing in November 2021.
blue origin
The Pentagon announced the first winning bidders in its rocket launch contract drawing on Thursday, with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin earning a spot for the first time.
Blue Origin's winning bid came as part of contracts awarded under the Pentagon's $5.6 billion National Security Space Launch program.
Elon Musk's SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, also known as ULA, the joint venture of Lockheed Martin and boeing – They were also awarded contracts as part of the third multi-year phase of the NSSL programme.
Blue Origin, SpaceX and ULA did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.
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Under the program, known as NSSL Phase 3 Track 1, the trio of companies will be eligible to compete for contracts until mid-2029.
ULA and SpaceX have already been competing for contracts in the previous edition of NSSL Phase 2: in total, over five years of Phase 2 launch orders, the military assigned ULA 26 missions worth $3.1 billion, while SpaceX obtained 22 missions worth $2.5 billion.
Blue Origin, as well as Northrop GrummanPhase 2 was missed when the Pentagon selected ULA and SpaceX for the program in August 2020.
A Falcon Heavy rocket launches mission USSF-67 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, January 15, 2023.
SpaceX
But with Phase 3, the US military is raising the stakes (and expanding the field) in a high-profile competition for Space Force mission contracts. Phase 3 is expected to receive 90 rocket launch orders in total, with a focus divided into Track 1 and Track 2 categories to allow even more companies to bid.
Space Force outlined a “mutual fund” strategy to buy launches from companies in Phase 3: the military branch divided the program into two lanes, to have one that includes three companies that fulfill the most demanding and expensive missions, and the other that
