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Space

Jeff Bezos Says Blue Origin Needs To Be 'Much Faster' 127

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
In an interview with Lex Fridman, Jeff Bezos candidly acknowledged Blue Origin's slow progress (compared to SpaceX). From a report: "Blue Origin needs to be much faster, and it's one of the reasons that I left my role as the CEO of Amazon a couple of years ago," he said. "I wanted to come in, and Blue Origin needs me right now. Adding some energy, some sense of urgency. We need to move much faster. And we're going to."

How is Blue Origin going to speed up?

"We're going to become the world's most decisive company across any industry," he said. "We're going to get really good at taking appropriate technology risks, making those decisions quickly. You know, being bold on those things. And having the right culture that supports that. You need people to be ambitious, technically ambitious. If there are five ways to do something, we'll study them, but let's go through them very quickly and make a decision. We can always change our mind."
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Jeff Bezos Says Blue Origin Needs To Be 'Much Faster' More

Jeff Bezos Says Blue Origin Needs To Be 'Much Faster'

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  • So, to get this straight... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rei ( 128717 ) on Friday December 15, 2023 @10:25AM (#64083463) Homepage

    ... the guy who had made for the company a coat of arms featuring turtles reaching for space [bustle.com] over the slogan "step-by-step ferocious" and uses turtles to denote successful missions [bustle.com] is going to speed up the company?

    • Partially correct. He was going to speed it up two years ago.

      • Partially correct. He was going to speed it up two years ago.

        But they are still shooting fuel tanks into barely the limits of outer space. People that fly on their flying fuel tank are classified as astronauts, per rule.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mccrew ( 62494 )
      Yep. It's turtles all the way up.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      Some people can admit they're wrong. A few of those can do something about it.

      Bezos seems to have some capacity for the first at least.

  • Ironic (Score:5, Insightful)

    by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Friday December 15, 2023 @10:30AM (#64083477) Homepage
    The rumor I've heard is that Blue Origin likes to setup recruiting spots near places where SpaceX employees like to hang out, and basically offers an alternative culture of work/life balance. At SpaceX, the joke is, "if you don't come in on Saturday, don't worry about coming in on Sunday." SpaceX is very up front about this when they hire people. It's a lifestyle choice. So Blue Origin deliberately hired the people who actively chose not to join that culture, and now their CEO is going to go change that culture? Good luck with that.

    • At Boca Chica, the word is that they work 12 hour shifts, 3 days on 3 days off, they have even cleared the site for holidays as witnessed on LABPadre cams

      You need to stop listening to nonsense, and I sure as heck hope that Blue Origin just gets the leftovers, not key players with their efforts

    • Re:Ironic (Score:4, Interesting)

      by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Friday December 15, 2023 @11:34AM (#64083653)

      At SpaceX, the joke is, "if you don't come in on Saturday, don't worry about coming in on Sunday." SpaceX is very up front about this when they hire people.

      First off, that doesn't sound like much of a 'joke' if the company is being very up front about that when they hire people.

      It's a lifestyle choice.

      Saturdays and Sundays included in the work week, isn't a "lifestyle". It's enslavement.

      Good luck selling that shit to the 9 to 5 society, especially when they already know sleeping on the factory floor isn't going to result in you becoming a multi-billionaire. Today, a work/life balance means more to the most valued asset than it ever has.

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by RobinH ( 124750 )
        As long as they're upfront about it, and there's a choice to work at other companies, I don't care. At certain points in my life I just wanted to work all the time and get some money in the bank, and later I had a family and wanted to spend more time raising kids. People's needs vary. Are you saying you want to dictate to everyone else how much they're allowed to put into different aspects of their life just based on your opinions? I thought this was the land of the free! I guess you don't have my vote

        • As long as they're upfront about it, and there's a choice to work at other companies, I don't care. At certain points in my life I just wanted to work all the time and get some money in the bank, and later I had a family and wanted to spend more time raising kids. People's needs vary. Are you saying you want to dictate to everyone else how much they're allowed to put into different aspects of their life just based on your opinions? I thought this was the land of the free! I guess you don't have my vote.

          Land of the free, shouldn't mean home of the enslaved no matter how drunk someone is on the benefits of being a workaholic (Yeah. There's a valid reason we use -aholic to describe that addiction.)

          Honestly, time should be enjoyed and respected more. All the ambition and riches in the entire world, can't buy more of it. It slips away at the same rate for all, and 100% of it can be taken from you at any moment, because Shit Happens.

          We live a finite existence. Also, women in particular that live to work us

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Even if people are okay with those hours, and it doesn't put pressure on anyone else to do more hours at other companies or to get raises, that still leaves the fact that if long hours are necessary it's because the company didn't hire enough people.

          Is SpaceX short of cash? Or is this a decision to be under staffed for some other reason?

      • That reasoning just makes the word enslavement meaningless. Making an informed decision to work long hours and be compensated for it isn't remotely close to enslavement. It's not even exploitation since those people have plenty of options.

  • "We're going to become the world's most decisive company across any industry,"

    Translation: Light speed is too slow. We need to move to...ludicrous speed. We're not here to 'break things'. We're here to fuck shit up.

    Winning like Charlie Sheen with that. Prayers for Blue Origin test monkeys. Seriously. Couldn't pay me enough.

  • I thought it meant it had to be 'Much Faster' to achieve orbit.

    And who says Jeff Bezos isn't a rocket scientist?

  • Facts hurt (Score:3)

    by Virtucon ( 127420 ) on Friday December 15, 2023 @10:34AM (#64083485)

    Blue Origin is behind the curve, they haven't even achieved orbit yet after years of work. A damming point of shame for Blue Origin is now even Amazon is using SpaceX [cnn.com]

    • Re:Facts hurt (Score:5, Insightful)

      by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Friday December 15, 2023 @10:42AM (#64083509)

      Blue Origin is behind the curve, they haven't even achieved orbit yet after years of work. A damming point of shame for Blue Origin is now even Amazon is using SpaceX [cnn.com]

      And yet it appears that Jeff Bezos is convinced he is as smart as Elon Musk.

      This should be...fucking hilarious.

      • Why are people still parroting the "Elon Smart" tripe?

        • Cuz he is. Do you get your information from Thunderf00t or something?

          • I actually read and understand the history of where musk came from and I was able to use that information form my opinion. You should try forming one of your own sometime.

            • Unfortunately a lot of people can be swayed by speaking patterns regardless of the content. Musk clearly knows how to hire good people and also clearly seems to be able to motivate them to work hard. That is where it all ends, if he speaks on any topic it isn't in depth and rarely shows any nuance.

              He also seems to be suffering from his own success these days as he is clearly only surrounded by sycophants. His purchase of Twitter and then inexplicable brand change to X of all things combined with rapid loss

            • Yet your opinion is wildly inaccurate. You must have fumbled on the reading part. Please regale us with which parts of history back the opinion that Elon is not smart.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by sirket ( 60694 )

            You think the guy who bought Twitter for $44 billion and has run it into the ground is smart?

            You think the guy who was calling for sub 10-micron panel tolerances for the Cybertruck is smart?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Rei ( 128717 )

            Life isn't like this. People aren't just "smart" or "stupid" (and making a determination CERTAINLY doesn't involve incorporating how much you like or dislike the person). A person can do utterly brilliant work in one regard and act completely moronic in another. Trying to categorize people into one bucket or the other hides the nuance of the world.

            In particular, I'd point out that software- and engineering types - stereotypically "smart" - also tend to be the most vulnerable to Dunning-Kruger. Like, for

        • How's your rocket company doing, little buddy? All set with the cardboard and decals?
          • Your equation is this: Has money = smart. This is not logically sound.

            • Capitalism would like to talk to you in the back alley.

            • I never mentioned money. I mentioned his rocket company, that he started from scratch, which now overwhelmingly leads the entire global launch industry and holds numerous technological world records.

              You don't have to feel one way or another about the guy, but denying his intelligence just means you're mentally ill.
              • Your measurement of his intelligence is based on the fact that he is financially successful, as you just stated. He didn't do any of the smart stuff. He opened his wallet.
                • Again, you seem to be unable to read English when it contradicts you. I did not mention money, I mentioned technology and organization. In which he has been personally integral at SpaceX. But then a contemptible idiot like yourself would never bother to know the history of such a company.
                  • It is hilarious that the guy trying to claim he formed an opinion that Elon isn't smart because he read up on Elon's history yet demonstrates he can't even properly read Slashdot comments. I'm sure all he did was read false tweets claiming Elon was a trust fund kid and all his wealth is inherited and anyone that thinks he's smart only does so because they equate wealth with intelligence. No matter what you say he will project.
                    • The sad part is if he gambled on another billionaire, he'd probably be right. He just has the bad luck of applying a stereotype to someone it doesn't apply to.

                      And potentially the bad character of applying it to someone who has actually helped humanity in a tangible way.
            • No, it's more to do with how he achieved that wealth. Your equation seems to be MSM doesn't like him anymore so he must not be smart.
          • Its going pretty good. I just shipped 12 ignitors for the RS-25 refresh on the SLS. How many ignitors have you shipped?

            • You do realize that you are Elmer Fudd in this cartoon

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Entrope ( 68843 )

                Elmer Fudd wasn't the character who was always going on about the Illudium PU-36 explosive space modulator. I think we've been reading Marvin the Martian instead.

                • LOL, I never found Duck Dodgers to be very compelling, the Martian Queen, on the other hand...

                  • LOL, I never found Duck Dodgers to be very compelling, the Martian Queen, on the other hand...

                    Duck Dodgers wasn't the point. His enemies were ALWAYS more interesting than he was. He was an anti-hero before anti-heroes were awesome. He sorta sucked. His compelling, engaging, and often hysterically charismatic despite themselves enemies were the draw, and the meat of his existence. Without them? He was nothing.

              • Elmer Fudd the aerospace engineer?

                • Elmer Fudd who could not capture the rabbit, as compared to the aerospace engineer who could not get to orbit perhaps

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Rei ( 128717 )

              How's the budget on that rocket going there, champ? How's your cost per flight looking?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Z80a ( 971949 )

          Elon Musk is a genius when the subject is acquiring capital. Man is hype incarnated.
          He may suck at actual rocket engineering (and social media handling, and designing cars etc..), but in many cases, it gets to a point where he just hire someone that actually know the hell he's doing and shove a lot of money in the person.
          And then you get SpaceX, tesla etc..

          • Elon Musk is a genius when the subject is acquiring capital. Man is hype incarnated.

            If his skill is truly defined as "hype man" to acquire capital, I kind of doubt he would have spent so much time sleeping on a factory floor, worrying about running out of money unless a successful rocket launch actually happened.

            He would have skipped all that and pimped for mo money from a yacht in international waters full of cocaine and hookers.

            Also, that "hype man" sucks at pimping EV to the American Government who doesn't even acknowledge him in the conversation. Much less recognize him as an industry

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Z80a ( 971949 )

              He actually wants to do the things, rather than being some sort of scammer that want to live the easy life.
              That's not a skill, its just not being a dickhead.
              But the part where he's good at is getting the money, and giving it to someone that can make it happen.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Bongo ( 13261 )

        Make it extra pointy.

    • Blue Origin is behind the curve, they haven't even achieved orbit yet after years of work. A damming point of shame for Blue Origin is now even Amazon is using SpaceX [cnn.com]

      Blue Origin took the molases like development cycle of NASA's major contractors over the years, and applied it to a company that didn't get unlimited taxpayer dollars shoveled at it every time it hit a delay. Now he wants to be more like SpaceX, with the move fast and break things mentality of Silly Valley. I don't think Blue Origin will survive trying to shift gears that massively. The only saving grace is he's been focusing on speeding up the company for two years and has essentially zero to show for it.

  • there has to be lots of cheap rocket engine parts imported from China on Amazon

  • oh really? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by necro81 ( 917438 ) on Friday December 15, 2023 @10:37AM (#64083495) Journal
    That's pretty rich for a company whose motto is "gradatim ferociter," or "step by step, ferociously".

    Blue Origin is a company that started as a glorified garage project, eventually broke out into limited commercial release, and has dreams that far exceed its (present) capabilities. One does not take such an entity and turn it into a startup sprinter to catch up on a decade's worth of missed development overnight. I'm not sure what's holding Blue Origin back. Their headcount (~11k employees) isn't that far behind SpaceX (~13k). They've got some paying customers, they have some bits and pieces of hardware. On the other hand, RocketLab has around 1000 employees and has been successfully putting satellites into orbit for five years already.
    • It's maddening to watch Blue Origin stuck in the mire of not achieving orbit, but instead lobbying to redefine astronaut credentials to feel good about less than 90secs of near 0g flight. Especially since Bezos beat Musk to the punch over two decades ago to hire the few McDonnell Douglas engineers who had successfully built the DC-X Delta Clipper in the mid '90s on a literal shoestring budget; I was sure that B-O would have leapfrogged SpaceX with that foundation of engineering knowledge but it's been squan

  • Packaged goods (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sinij ( 911942 ) on Friday December 15, 2023 @10:42AM (#64083513)
    This shows that the level of talent needed to make the best packaged goods company is barely enough to keep money-losing rocket company going. This is why we need visionaries, no matter how obnoxious (e.g., Jobs) or troll-y (e.g., Musk) they are.
    • Figuring out how to make something proprietary to squeeze more money out of other people's ideas isn't all that visionary.

  • ...he said, two years later! :D

  • Nice to be him. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hey! ( 33014 ) on Friday December 15, 2023 @11:27AM (#64083635) Homepage Journal

    I don't want to minimize Bezos' real business accomplishments, but it takes a special kind of person to hire a bunch of rocket scientist, look at them, and conclude: they really need *me*.

    I wonder what it must be like to live with that much ego-validation.

    • I'm no fan of Bezos but having someone that could almost literally move mountains in your corner only helps the cause. He's not Trump, he's not saying he alone can fix it. When your engineers are stuck for a variety of reasons, a non-technical manager can do a lot to get them the resources they need to move forward.

      Bezos has demonstrated that he can absolutely bulldoze his way through most things. (At great cost to society at large at times)

      Trying to be like Musk is pointless, comparisons should stop at ju

  • Amazon is a free rider. They rely on publicly funded infrastructure to support their entire business, and it's falling into disrepair. The American people are supposed to fund the rebuilding of the roads, bridges, etc. that Amazon needs to survive, but does any single company do more to grind the infrastructure into dust?

    This guy should be focused on rebuilding the things his company needs to survive, not shooting rockets into space. All of his projects are myopically driven by his own ego, but what is t

  • Blue Origin is looking more and more likely to soon become Blue Screen of Death.

  • I am puzzled. If you employ a team of rocket scientists to design and build rockets, surely the only thing slowing the rocket-building process is lack of money? Jeff is the one supplying the money.

  • We're going to become the world's most decisive company across any industry,

    Translation: There will be no discussion, it's my way or get out.

    We're going to get really good at taking appropriate technology risks, making those decisions quickly

    Translation: We're not going to listen to any concerns that might result in slowing down the process.

    You need people to be ambitious, technically ambitious.

    Translation: You'd better be prepared to live at the office if you want to work here.

    If there are five ways to do something, we'll study them, but let's go through them very quickly and make a decision.

    Translation: We're going to "study" them for a very short time and then I'm going to tell you which option we're going to pursue, and the discussion will be over.

    We can always change our mind.

    Translation: *I* can always change my mind. And if I do, you'd better not tell me that the timeline

  • How about designing a space plane and using Musks Falcon to get it to orbit. After all Falcon actually works.
  • ...from the guy who had to ask Twitter for suggestions on what to do with his money.

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