Blue Origin Plans To Create A Commercial Space Station

The company led by Jeff Bezos wants to explore this path. Bringing the private plane to Space Stations is something that has surprised its shareholders.

Blue Origin has more ambitious plans than simple space tourism. Today, the Jeff Bezos-owned space flight company announced that it is also working on creating its own space station. Called Orbital Reef, it promises to be a kind of industrial and commercial center, and is destined to begin operations in the second half of this decade.

It will be developed and operated in association with Sierra Space, a subsidiary of the Sierra Nevada corporation. This company is perhaps best known for the Dream Chaser, a spacecraft that will begin operating in 2022 and will carry cargo to the International Space Station. Orbital Reef also has the backing of Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions, and Arizona State University . The company expects to use Boeing's Starliner and Sierra Space's Dream Chaser to transport cargo and passengers to Orbital Reef.

Think of Orbital Reef as essentially a "business park", but in space. The idea is to offer private users the necessary logistics.