Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, is laying off approximately 10 percent of its workforce, or about 1,000 roles, as detailed in an email sent to staff on Thursday. This move comes after years of rapid growth and the successful launch of their New Glenn reusable rocket last month. The company’s CEO, Dave Limp, explained that the cuts were necessary to streamline operations in areas such as engineering, research and development, and project management.
Blue Origin, which is estimated to have over 10,000 employees, has been focused on scaling manufacturing output and launch cadence to meet customer demands for 2025 and beyond. Jeff Bezos, who has invested heavily in the company with a vision of establishing human colonies in space, has recently hired Mr. Limp to bring a sense of urgency to the organization and address concerns around a lack of necessity due to abundant funding.
Despite the layoffs, Blue Origin remains optimistic about its future projects, including a planned moon lander for NASA’s Artemis program. The company is also ramping up production of its BE-4 engines for its New Glenn rocket and the Vulcan rocket built by United Launch Alliance. Mr. Limp remains positive about the company’s progress and its ability to adapt to changing priorities in the space industry, including potential shifts in NASA’s focus from the moon to Mars.
In his recent appearance at the Commercial Space Conference, Mr. Limp highlighted the progress made by Blue Origin and emphasized the company’s commitment to becoming a world-class manufacturing company. Despite the layoffs, he reaffirmed that Blue Origin would continue to hire hundreds of positions as it pushes forward with its ambitious space exploration goals.
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