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After years of preparation and billions of dollars spent on the project, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos became one of the first to fly a rocket built by his other company, Blue Origin, at the edge of space. But the event itself was also an opportunity for Bezos to promote a third investment in Amazon’s larger portfolio: startup EV Rivian.
Throughout the show, Rivian’s electric van and SUV could be seen commuting between Bezos and his fellow astronauts – a decision not surprisingly given Amazon now owns more than 10 percent of VE startup after leading and participating in several fundraising rounds. The hosts of the Blue Origin livestream made sure to let everyone watching what they were seeing as well.
“And here the astronauts are coming. There you see Jeff Bezos in the foreground, Oliver Daemen entering the Rivian, ”said Ariane Cornell, director of“ astronaut and orbital sales ”at Blue Origin on the show as the group hopped in. one of the startup’s SUVs to head to the rocket for their trip to space. Then we had a long continuous aerial shot of the electric SUV heading towards the pad, split side by side during an interview with Mercury 13 legend Wally Funk.
After the crew landed safely an hour later, they were there again: a set of Rivian pickup trucks and SUVs roaring across the West Texas landscape to welcome the recently returned astronauts. (Electric vehicles have been ranked among a few other pickup trucks and SUVs made by Ford – which also owns over 10% of Rivian.)
The Rivians – likely on loan, due to the fact that they still carry maker’s plates – weren’t there just for broadcast either. At one point, Blue Origin used the pull-out camping kitchen on a pair of Rivian vans to make sausage and carne asada for guests attending the launch – an optional feature the startup has been promoting a lot at the approach to production.
Blue Origin is privately held, and just like Virgin Galactic – which launched founder Richard Branson to the edge of space less than two weeks ago – this first mission was as much about promotion as it was science or exploration. . But while Branson’s event had a music festival vibe, Blue Origin’s was more in line with Bezos’ notorious calculation. It was a chance for him to promote the things he plans to spend his time on now that he’s no longer CEO of Amazon, like his space company and climate fund, and to throw a bone in the company of electric vehicles that Amazon dumped a bunch of money into. Perhaps the only surprising thing is that the delivery van Rivian is building for Amazon was not there either.
It’s not like Rivian, who recently delayed the first deliveries of his pickup truck and SUV until later this year, really. Needs attention. The startup has already raised more than $ 8 billion to date. Rivian has also a proven track record of delivering their own effective cross promotions. But Rivien is currently in the process of preparing for an IPO, so it is possible that this demonstration of corporate synergy will play bankers’ game.
Commercialization of the space industry has been going on for some time, but it has really accelerated in recent years as companies like Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX have matured. These companies have decided to dominate everything from “boring” tasks like freight runs and science missions to riskier endeavors like tying people inside a spaceship. They also realized the value of the eyeballs that these missions attract. After all, before SpaceX launched the first humans into space from American soil last year, those astronauts also took a promotional ride to the rocket – in a Tesla Model X.
Additional reporting by Joey Roulette.
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