NASA chief touts Bezos' space flight project, Blue Origin

The Obama administration has reportedly been looking at ways to outsource elements of the U.S. space program — like ferrying cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station — to private contractors as a way to save money. Now NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is highlighting some of the companies it could partner with, including Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos' secretive rocket project, Blue Origin.

Blue Origin, which has a facility in Kent, Wash., and a launch pad in West Texas, is developing New Shepard, "a vertical take-off, vertical-landing vehicle." The startup aims to take paying customers into orbit.

Here's an excerpt from a speech Bolden gave yesterday (pdf, 5 pages) to the National Association of Investment Companies in Washington, D.C.:

Some of the most exciting companies in America today go by the names of SpaceX, Blue Origin, Armadillo Aerospace, Virgin Galactic, Xcor, Bigelow Aerospace, Masten, Flag Suit, and Ad Astra. And today I add a new name to the list … Peter’s Robotics. What these companies, and others, are doing is nothing short of inspirational.

Today, we at NASA are devising ways to work with these companies and others who will come. I urge you, and all other investors, to take notice. Space may someday soon become the new thing in investing.

Bezos is not the only business mogul interested in rockets. SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies, another company on the above list, is headed by PayPal co-founder and Tesla chairman Elon Musk. Virgin Galactic is part of Sir Richard Branson's empire.

Still, Bezos, who made his name in ecommerce, may be getting a step closer to taking on the cosmos.

Follow my updates on Twitter.

About Eric Engleman

ERIC ENGLEMAN is senior technology staff writer for TechFlash and the Puget Sound Business Journal, covering online retail giant Amazon.com. Engleman tracks Amazon's increasingly complex business, spanning ecommerce, Kindle, cloud computing, and more. He's been covering technology and other industries for the Business Journal since 2003.

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