Bezos is ‘very optimistic’ about the Trump administration’s space agenda.
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Despite President-elect Trump’s close relationship with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, owner of the aerospace company Blue Origin, is “very optimistic” about the incoming White House administration.
On Monday morning, Blue Origin cleared the New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral to “address a vehicle subsystem issue.” The company said on X that it is evaluating opportunities for its next launch attempt.
The New Glen is a 30-story rocket that is expected to challenge SpaceX’s market dominance and launch Blue Origin’s long-delayed satellite launch business.
“Elon has made it clear that he’s doing this for the public good, not for personal gain. And I take that at face value,” Bezos told Reuters on Sunday.
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Blue Origin’s new Glenn rocket stands on Pad 36 before its first stage launch at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on January 11, 2025 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu/Getty Images)
Musk, who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars on Trump’s campaign, got the president-elect’s ear on space issues.
Last month, Musk said the U.S. should send missions directly to Mars instead of first to the Moon, fueling industry concerns that it could lead to a major overhaul of NASA’s space exploration program.
“My opinion is that we have to do both – we have to go to the moon and we have to go to Mars,” Bezos said when asked if he was concerned about changes in NASA’s lunar program.
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Jeff Bezos speaks about Blue Origin’s New Shepard flight into space during a press conference on July 20, 2021 in Van Horn, Texas. (Joe Radle/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“What we don’t have to do is start and stop things. We definitely have to continue with the lunar program,” he said.
Amazon chairman and founder Bezos is the second richest person in the world with a fortune of $233.1 billion, according to Forbes.
| Ticker | Security | last one | Change | change % |
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| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 218.46 | -0.48 |
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Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s graduation fund and will broadcast the event on its Prime Video service. Bezos has met with Trump, but “we haven’t really talked about space,” he told Reuters.
In his second term as president, Trump is expected to make major changes to NASA’s lunar program and focus on sending missions to Mars.
Amazon founder, chairman, CEO and president Jeff Bezos unveils the Blue Moon space company’s Blue Origin space exploration lunar lander rocket at an event in Washington, U.S., May 9, 2019. (Kilcoyne Prison/File Photo/Reuters)
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Trump established the US space force when he signed the National Defense Authorization Act in December 2019, during his first term in office.
Reuters contributed to this report.
