Blue Origin will test moon lander engine at Air Force rocket lab

Blue Origin will test the engine for the company's lunar lander at a U.S. Air Force rocket lab.

In December, Blue Origin, a spaceflight company founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, signed a 15-year cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the Air Force Research Laboratory. The contract laid out plans for the testing of Blue Origin's BE-7 engine, which will be used for the company's lunar lander. Last Thursday (Jan. 27), the two organizations announced that the engine will be tested on an AFRL site at the Edwards Air Force Base in California.


While the specific financial terms of this contract have not been made public, AFRL did share in the announcement that Blue Origin will provide "capital improvements" to 1-42 (or the Space Environment Propulsion Complex), the facility where tests on this engine will occur.