The space race, once a competition between rival countries, has become a battle of the billionaires. Among them are Mr. Tesla, Elon Musk, who seeks to colonize Mars with his SpaceX venture, and Mr. Amazon, Jeff Bezos, who charts a future with his rocket manufacturer, Blue Origin, where millions of humans are both living and working in space. Both are competing to develop the all-important lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis mission in 2024. So how do these two galactic egos stack up?
SpaceX |
Blue Origin |
|---|---|
|
OWNER’S NET WORTH $69.1 billion |
OWNER’S NET WORTH $188 billion |
| HEADQUARTERED IN
Hawthorne, Calif. |
HEADQUARTERED IN
Kent, Wash. |
| FOUNDING YEAR
2002 |
FOUNDING YEAR
2000 |
BACKERS
Courtesy of Google |
BACKERS
NASA
Courtesy of NASA |
| NEXT BIG THING
The Starship rocket, which will launch as
|
NEXT BIG THING Successfully launching a crewed mission. |
|
INSPIRED BY The Foundation book series by Isaac Asimov. |
INSPIRED BY The biopic October Sky. |
|
SENT HUMANS TO SPACE? Yes, two.
|
SENT HUMANS TO SPACE? Nope. |
|
MOST IMPRESSIVE MEMBER Falcon 9, which is taller than the Leaning
|
MOST IMPRESSIVE MEMBER New Glenn, which is a bit taller than the Statue of
|
|
CREWED SHIP Crew Dragon
|
CREWED SHIP New Shepard
|
|
ESTIMATED TICKET PRICE $500,000 for a trip to Mars. |
ESTIMATED TICKET PRICE Between $200,000 and $300,000 for a suborbital cruise. |
|
FRIENDLY RIVALRY When Bezos tweeted a video of a “rare” reused rocket from Blue Origin, Musk was quick to point out that the SpaceX
|
FRIENDLY RIVALRY After SpaceX launched a rocket into space and brought the booster back to Earth, Bezos tweeted,
|
|
TWITTER FOLLOWERS 12.1 million |
TWITTER FOLLOWERS
235,000 |
| COMIC-BOOK COMPARISON
Tony Stark
Courtesy of Adobe Stock |
COMIC-BOOK COMPARISON
Lex Luthor
Courtesy of Adobe Stock |
| SIR RICHARD BRANSON SAYS
“Elon is absolutely fixated on going to Mars.” |
SIR RICHARD BRANSON SAYS
“We’re both neck and neck as to who will put people |
