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After years of preparation and billions of dollars spent on the project, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was allowed to be one of the first people to ride the rocket he built. other company, Blue Origin, on the edge of space. But the event itself was also an opportunity for Bezos to promote a third placement in the broader Amazon portfolio: EV startup Rivian.
Rivian’s electric car and SUV could be seen carrying Bezos and his other astronauts throughout the broadcast – a surprising decision, given that Amazon now owns more than 10 percent of EV start-up after leading and participating in several rounds of funding. The hosts of the Blue Origin live stream also let all viewers know what they saw.
“And here the astronauts come. There you see Jeff Bezos in the foreground, Oliver Daemen stepping into Rivian, “Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin’s director of astronaut and orbital sales,” said happily during the broadcast as the group jumped from one of the startup’s SUVs head to head for a rocket on a journey into space. Mercury 13-legend Wally Funk.
When the crew landed safely an hour later, there they were again: a bunch of Rivian pickups and SUVs drumming over the West Texas landscape to greet newly returned astronauts. (Electric vehicles were attached to a few other Ford flatbeds and SUVs – which also owns more than 10 percent of Rivian.)
The Rivans – probably on loan, due to the fact that they still have the manufacturer’s plate – were not there just because of the shipment. At one point, Blue Origin used sliding tent kitchen a couple of Rivian pick-ups to make sausages and carne asada for guests attending the launch – an optional feature that the launch has contributed a lot to in preparation for production.
Blue Origin is a private company, and just like Virgin Galactic – who founded founder Richard Branson to the edge of space less than two weeks ago – this first task was as much about promotion as it was about science or exploration. But even though Branson’s event had the atmosphere of a music festival, Blue Origin’s was in line with Bezos’ infamous calculation. It was an opportunity for him to promote the things he was going to spend his time in now no longer the CEO of Amazon, like his space company and his climate fundand throws a bone at an electric vehicle company to which Amazon has dropped a bunch of money. Perhaps the only surprising thing is that there was also no delivery van that Rivian is building for Amazon either.
It’s not like Rivian that recently postponed the first deliveries of its flatbed and SUV later this year, Really needs attention. The startup has already raised more than $ 8 billion to date. Rivian has also already proven adept at inventing own effective cross-campaigns. But Rivian Is presently preparation of a preliminary public offer, so it is possible that this business synergy presentation works directly in the hands of bankers.
The commercialization of the space industry is occurred for some time, but it has really increased in recent years as companies like Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX have matured. These companies have sought to manage everything from “boring” tasks, such as cargo transportation and science operations, to more risky efforts, such as anchoring people on a spacecraft. They have also understood the value of the eyeballs attracted by these tasks. After all, before SpaceX launched the first humans into space from U.S. soil last year, those astronauts also went on an advertising trip to the rocket – on the Tesla Model X.
Additional report by Joey Roulette.