JEFF BEZOS

“Gradatim Ferociter” or “Step By Step, Ferociously” is the motto for Blue Origin, the aerospace company developed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. It is also a fitting maxim for his ventures as a bookseller, business mogul, technology entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

 Beginning in 1994, Bezos grew his business empire rapidly with the creation of Amazon, an online bookstore. It soon expanded into music, video and other product lines. The development and marketing of the Kindle in 2007 made books easily accessible by transforming the living room into a world-class library. By 2015, Amazon hit its mark as the world’s largest online store. 

Blue Origin was founded in 2000 as a start-up aerospace company, making space travel reliable, accessible, and more affordable. The name of company refers to the earth, or the “blue” planet, as its point of origin and has been an immediate objective of Blue Origin. Preserving the earth and its resources prevail as another critical goal, if not the primary one. Implementing planetary space resources for manufacturing rocket fuel and establishing travel bases for exploration are some of his ideas for achieving that goal.

Blue Origin’s first step was a suborbital flight with a vertical take-off and landing via the spacecraft, New Shepard. Bezos named the space vehicle after the first man in space, Alan Shepard with crewed flights scheduled to take off late in 2018 or early 2019. The second project is an orbital rocket ship christened New Glenn, in honor of John Glenn. This vehicle is scheduled to launch sometime in 2020. Blue Origin demonstrated its commitment to cost effective methods and sustainability with the development of reusable booster rockets and capsules. 

Since 1999, when Time magazine named him Person of the Year, Bezos has been the recipient of many awards. Fortune, US News and World Report, The Economist, and Harvard Business Review are among those honoring his achievements. Bezos has balanced his many accolades by generously donating millions of dollars through direct donations and non-profits funded by Bezos Expeditions. He is committed to alleviating homelessness and helping low-income families through non-profit pre-schools and daycare centers. Bezos has proven that with continuing vision, conviction, and determination the future is wide open to new exciting possibilities.