Amazon’s CEO Wants Astronauts to Get to the Moon by 2024

Jeff Bezos, the Chief Executive of Amazon, is also the founder of Blue Origin, which is set to take astronauts to the moon by 2024.

This week Bezos unveiled Blue Origin’s “Blue Moon” lunar lander and a new BE-7 rocket engine.

Bezos remarked, “I love Vice President Pence’s 2024 lunar landing goal because we started this three years ago.”

Vice President Mike Pence had directed NASA to return U.S. astronauts to the surface of the moon within the next five years. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has said that the agency will meet the White House’s directive.
Each year Bezos puts $1 billion into Blue Origin from sales of his Amazon shares.

“This vehicle is going to the moon,” Bezos said during a presentation to media and space industry executives.
“We were given a gift — this nearby body called the moon,” Bezos said. He added that the moon is a good place to begin manufacturing in space due to its lower gravity than the Earth. Getting resources from the moon “takes 24 times less energy to get it off the surface compared to the Earth,” Bezos explained. He said “that is a huge lever.”

According to Bezos, the Blue Moon lander can bring 3.6 metric tons to the lunar surface.

The BE-7 rocket engine, which was also presented at the event, will be test fired for the first time this summer. “We need the new engine and that’s what this is,” Bezos said.

“It’s time to go back to the moon and this time stay,” Bezos added.