Was Jeff Bezos Obsessed With Elon Musk’s Space Ambitions? Leaked Document Suggests So!

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin recently made history when it took a short trip to space. Blue Origin is among the top private space companies, coming as a close competitor with other companies like SpaceX. In fact, the competition between Blue Origin and SpaceX has been quite intense. Leaked documents reveal the complete truth behind Blue Origin's obsession with SpaceX.

The competition and the obsession with SpaceX go years back. Back in 2018, Blue Origin's primary concern was not to fall behind Elon Musk's SpaceX - at least that's what the leaked documents reveal. Apparently, Blue Origin even hired management consultants to help figure out what they were doing wrong and how it could be improved.

Blue Origin Vs SpaceX: Fierce Competition

The consultants then gave a briefing to several Blue Origin leaders - and these notes were obtained by Ars Technica, revealing quite a lot of details. The alleged leaked notes from the Blue Origin executive reveals that the private space company was obsessed with finding the areas SpaceX was beating them. This included low-cost launches, design, and also talent acquisition.

Based on these notes, one might assume that Blue Origin would chalk up a similar strategy to take on SpaceX. Moreover, rather than developing its departments, Blue Origin seemed to be more obsessed with SpaceX's strategy for success. The leaked notes even mentioned SpaceX was offering significantly cheaper launches, which resulted in better customer satisfaction.

Blue Origin Vs SpaceX: Key Observational Differences

"They have a customer focus. We should too. In many cases, we view the customer as a nuisance. This is the case with LSA (Launch Services Agreement, or the US Space Force), satellite launch for NG (satellite customers for the New Glenn rocket), and astronauts for NS (New Shepard). We need to change this culture," a Blue Origin executive alleged wrote, reports Ars Tecnica.

That's not all. The consultants and the executives found another major difference between the two space companies - employees and their talent and dedication. Apparently, the leadership at Blue Origin felt that their employees weren't delivering as much as SpaceX's talent force.

"Blue (Origin) is kind of lazy compared to SpaceX. I often work off-hours and weekends, just the nature of the business. Blue is a ghost town on weekends, and I'm sure people are working, but I do think we have quite a bit of heroic high performers picking up the slack too often," another exec wrote, says the report.

Blue Origin Vs SpaceX: Competition Continues

The documents revealed by the publication dates back to 2018. From the looks of it, the briefing from the management consultants didn't really solve Blue Origin's problems. Over the past few years, SpaceX has continued to establish its dominance and is even a favored partner for NASA.

Of course, Blue Origin came close in competition when Jeff Bezos and his crewmates took a trip to space. The space trip lasted about 10 minutes where the New Shepard capsule included four members on board. But even here, Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson beat Bezos in making the first commercial space trip.

The war between SpaceX and Blue Origin has continued. Recently, Jeff Bezos challenged NASA's decision to grant the Moon lander contract to SpaceX. Moreover, Bezos even offered to complete the lander for just USD 2 billion, which is significantly lesser than the SpaceX contract. However, NASA upheld its decision and seems to continue its contract with SpaceX, which is another loss for Blue Origin.