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posted by Fnord666 on Monday April 06 2020, @01:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the birds-have-to-fly dept.

Jeff Bezos' space company is pressuring employees to launch a tourist rocket during the pandemic:

Employees at Jeff Bezos' aerospace firm Blue Origin are outraged that senior leadership is pressuring workers to conduct a test launch of the company's New Shepard rocket — designed to take wealthy tourists into space — while the COVID-19 pandemic devastates the United States.

To conduct the flight, Blue Origin officials are considering transporting employees from the company's main headquarters in Kent, Washington — a town near Seattle where COVID-19 cases have surged — to a small town in West Texas called Van Horn. The town, which has a population of just over 2,000, is home to Blue Origin's test launch facility where the company has conducted all past flights of the New Shepard rocket.

Many employees fear that traveling to Van Horn might expose them to the novel coronavirus and inadvertently introduce COVID-19 to the residents of the rural town where there is very little infrastructure to handle an outbreak. The Verge spoke exclusively with four Blue Origin employees who all asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from the company. They say they are frustrated by the company's desire to conduct a launch, as it could unnecessarily jeopardize the health of employees at Blue Origin and residents of Van Horn.

"It feels like the company is prioritizing its business goals and schedule above the safety of its employees and the community," one employee tells The Verge.

"[...] All of the employees who spoke with The Verge felt that New Shepard is not a critical vehicle that needs to launch during this time. "In my view, it's really a stretch," one employee tells The Verge. "I don't think that New Shepherd is mission essential to the United States in any way." While the rocket is sometimes used to carry research payloads, the primary focus of the vehicle is to eventually carry wealthy thrill-seekers to space where they'll experience a few minutes of weightlessness.

"What is essential about a vehicle that flies potentially billionaires to space?" one employee asks.

In a response to The Verge, Blue Origin said it would not comment on internal meetings. The company maintains that it is continuing to monitor "this rapidly evolving situation" and that there is no launch date set yet. "We hold safety as our highest value. Period," a spokesperson told The Verge in an email. "We are still operating at our West Texas Launch Site where we have been running engine tests and will continue to do so. Given our mission essential designation from Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, we've been cleared by federal, state and local officials to continue to operate, and we are doing everything we can to safeguard our workforce and communities."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @12:48AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @12:48AM (#979828)

    Yes, but how do we know they won't be back?