Blue Origin Won a $130 Million Share From NASA for Orbital Reef Space Station

Finally, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin heard good news from NASA for the Orbital Reef space station project.

We previously reported that Blue Origin unveiled its plans to develop a commercial space station defined as a “mixed-use business park” in space.

NASA announced on Thursday that it chose the Orbital Reef station project for funding under the Space Act Agreement, and through the agreement, there will be efforts to develop the station’s design.

Blue Origin received $130 million for the Orbital Reef space station

NASA seeks to develop an America-led commercial economy in low-Earth orbit, or also known as LEO, according to the US-based space agency. As part of the agreement, Bezos’ space tourism company will receive $130 million from NASA. Meanwhile, Nanoracks will get $160 million, while Northrop Grumman will have the amount of $125.6 million.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said regarding the selections to develop commercial destinations in space that the agency was the leader in the world to commercialize space activities.

“With commercial companies now providing transportation to low-Earth orbit in place, we are partnering with U.S. companies to develop the space destinations where people can visit, live, and work, enabling NASA to continue forging a path in space for the benefit of humanity while fostering commercial activity in space,” he said.

Orbital Reef

“We are pleased that NASA supports the development of Orbital Reef, a revolutionary approach to making Earth orbit more accessible to diverse customers and industries,” Brent Sherwood, Senior Vice President of Advanced Development Programs for Blue Origin, said in a statement.

NASA has selected Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build spacecraft that will carry astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. But Blue Origin — which described the process as “fundamentally unfair” — filed suit in federal court against NASA due to the selection of SpaceX. Bezos’ company, however, lost that suit.

The Orbital Reef space station project is expected to be built by 2030 in cooperation with Sierra Space. NASA also says it “will start operation in the second half of this decade.”