Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Sierra Space Announce Plans for Commercial Space Station

Yesterday Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin announced a new commercial space station called the ‘Orbital Reef’ it could be operational in the late 2020’s and be used to host science experiments, vacation getaways and even in-space manufacturing. The company will work alongside ‘Sierra Space’ to bring the plan to life and Boeing is planning on designing a research module on board but there are no promises or guarantees that the companies can actually make it happen. Blue Origin and Sierra Space plan to co-finance the station but executives declined to give an estimate during a press conference held yesterday. The Orbital Reef could host up to 10 people and will have the same internal volume as the International Space Station.

The companies are expecting to sign on NASA as an anchor tenant but it’s not known how that partnership could take place, NASA has put out calls for proposals for commercials space stations as the International Space Station nears it’s 20th anniversary and the end of it’s lifespan. Several other companies including Texas-based startups ‘Nanoracks’ and ‘Axiom’ have also proposed similar plans.