--- title: "SpaceX vs Blue Origin The \"Tortoise and Hare\" Race in the Space Industry | Financial Decoding" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/292363992.md" description: "SpaceX and Blue Origin are the two major competitors in commercial spaceflight. Musk's SpaceX has become the global leader in commercial launches and achieved stable profitability through its Falcon 9 reusable technology and Starlink business; Bezos's Blue Origin has developed more slowly and has been mocked as \"tortoise speed,\" but it adheres to a steady and solid approach, focusing on space exploration. The two companies differ significantly in their technological paths, visions, and current achievements, showcasing different development models in the space industry" datetime: "2026-07-11T00:33:00.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/292363992.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/292363992.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/292363992.md) --- # SpaceX vs Blue Origin The "Tortoise and Hare" Race in the Space Industry | Financial Decoding Both American billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have a "space dream," but their development pace differs significantly. Musk's SpaceX, with its strong research and development, is far ahead and has become a historical "giant" in the stock market; in contrast, Bezos's private investment in Blue Origin has been mocked as a "tortoise" due to its slow development. "Gradatim Ferociter" is the Latin motto of Blue Origin, meaning "step by step, fiercely forward." In February this year, Bezos posted a black-and-white photo of a tortoise on the social platform X without any caption, seemingly suggesting that he does not mind lagging behind and is confident of achieving ultimate victory in the space industry competition. ▍ SpaceX: The Global Leader in Commercial Launches SpaceX and Blue Origin are the two major competitors in the current commercial aerospace field, both aiming to reduce the cost of space exploration, but their development paths, technological philosophies, and current achievements are entirely different. Musk's SpaceX envisions Mars colonization. He believes that Earth faces potential survival crises, including asteroid impacts, nuclear war, or AI threats, and therefore humanity must evolve into a "multi-planet species." All of SpaceX's research and development aims to transport millions of people to Mars and establish self-sustaining cities. The above is the vision for the future. Currently, SpaceX's main rocket, Falcon 9, has already become the absolute leader in global commercial launches, successfully achieving large-scale reusability of first-stage rockets. As for the new generation heavy rocket Starship, which is under development, its goal is to execute manned and cargo missions to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars, with a payload capacity of 100 to 150 tons, using liquid oxygen/methane as propellant, ultimately replacing Falcon 9. Commercially, although SpaceX initially relied on contracts from NASA, it now possesses strong self-sustaining capabilities. Through intensive commercial satellite launches, NASA's crewed space missions (Crew Dragon), and the global broadband network of Starlink, SpaceX has achieved stable profitability and has a very high market value. !\[\](https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://tvb-vod-hk.oss-cn-hongkong.aliyuncs.com/uploads/image/2026/07/2026LDwoUpXb2Z1783660752.jpg? x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w\_1440,h\_1440/quality,q\_95/format,jpg) ▍ Blue Origin: Mocked by the Outside World as "Turtle Speed" The vision of Blue Origin, owned by Bezos, starts from resources to protect the Earth. He proposes going to space for the sake of the Earth, believing that Earth's resources are limited and that all high-pollution heavy industries and power plants should be moved to space, allowing Earth to return to a pure living and natural landscape. Its ultimate goal is to build O'Neill cylinders in space to accommodate a large population. Unlike Musk's trial-and-error approach, Bezos advocates for the rigor of traditional aerospace, preferring to conduct continuous simulation tests on the ground to ensure that actual launches are foolproof, which is also the main reason for the slow development progress, leading to the outside world mocking it as "turtle speed." New Shepard is a fully reusable suborbital spaceflight system developed by Blue Origin, belonging to the space edge tourism rocket category, which has carried multiple people to complete brief space experiences. As for the newly developed New Glenn heavy-lift rocket, it was officially unveiled in 2016 and had its first launch early last year, making it one of the three large heavy-lift rockets currently in service in the United States. However, New Glenn experienced an explosion during testing at the launch pad in Florida this May, completely destroying the rocket and damaging the launch pad infrastructure. ▍ Does Blue Origin Hold Key Chips? Blue Origin relies on Bezos's personal sale of Amazon stock to cash out and "burn money." For the first time in its more than 20 years of establishment, it is seeking external financing of $10 billion, indicating the urgency to catch up and the capital-intensive trend of the space race The recent setback in the New Glenn test does not mean it cannot catch up with SpaceX. The reason is that the identity of the second supplier is solid. The U.S. Department of Defense and NASA do not want to fully bet their space launch capabilities on SpaceX. 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