SPACE: Blue Origin just sent a jolt through the aerospace industry. “The company’s success is all the more significant because it was largely funded by Jeff Bezos, without direct cost to taxpayers. Up until a few years ago, every US-based rocket engine was funded almost entirely through government contracts, such as the Saturn V’s F-1 and the space shuttle’s main engines. SpaceX changed the model by building its Merlin rocket engine through a fixed-price contract to fulfill its launch commitments for NASA, but that engine was still built largely with taxpayer money. SpaceX has invested significant amounts of its own funds into its new Raptor engine, which has a sea-level thrust of 380,000 pounds. But this engine has yet to undergo full-scale testing. Meanwhile, Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine is more powerful, at 550,000 pounds of thrust—it is in fact the most powerful US rocket engine developed since Rocketdyne built the RS-68 engine two decades ago.”

Whatever other criticisms you have about Bezos and Musk, if they get us into space in a serious way that pays for all.