Key Blue Origin employees leave the company amid a battle to send astronauts to the moon

Posted:

22 before 2021 21:01 GMT

At least 17 people, including executives and engineers, have already left the company this summer along with two specialists, who have taken on their new jobs at rival companies, including SpaceX.

Blue Origin, a space tourism company owned by Jeff Bezos, is losing key employees as it continues to battle competitors, including SpaceX, in a bid to secure a NASA contract to take astronauts to the moon.

Consequently, at least 17 individuals, including CEOs and engineers, retired from the company this summer, according to Sources familiar with the matter confirmed to CNBC. It has been determined that two engineers have already filled new positions in Competitors, both at SpaceX and Firefly Aerospace.

In particular, Blue Origin lost Jeff Ashby, a former NASA astronaut, who served as chief of mission security; Dave Sanderson, Senior Propulsion Design Engineer; In addition to Bob S, Senior Director of the New Glenn Missile Program, among other notable employees.

For its part, a company spokesperson indicated that its workforce booster In the last years. “Blue Origin grew by 850 people in 2020, and we’ve grown by another 650 so far in 2021. In fact, we’ve grown almost four times in the past three years,” the outlet quoted a company spokesperson as saying.

An award to celebrate this achievement (but not for everyone)

The departure of Blue Origin employees occurs in light of their recent achievement. On July 20, Bezos and three other crew members performed they completed Successfully complete your flight into space. Thanking the employees for their work, the company awarded all its full-time members $10,000 prize. However, the bond was not provided to the entity’s contractors.

Furthermore, this gesture was seen within the company as Attempt To motivate workers to stay in office, given that at that time some were already asking permission to leave.

One of the reasons for the resignations could lie Dissatisfaction From the employees towards how the company is run. It is estimated that only 15% of Blue Origin employees Approval of the management of its CEO, Bob Smith, while, for example, the same index at SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, is 91%, according to data from Glassdoor, a website where former and current employees can anonymously rate companies.