Jeff Bezos sees no threat from Musk-Trump ties in space race

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – Billionaire Jeff Bezos in an interview with Reuters on Jan 12 said he does not think SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk will use his close ties with US President-elect Donald Trump to undercut his space company Blue Origin, adding he feels “very optimistic” about the incoming administration’s space agenda.

“Elon has been very clear that he’s doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain. And I take him at face value,” said Mr Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, which rivals SpaceX in the space industry.

Mr Bezos is in Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the debut launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn, a 30 storey-tall rocket that is expected to chip away at SpaceX’s market dominance and kick-start Blue Origin’s long-delayed entrance in the satellite launch business.

Mr Musk, who spent

more than a quarter billion dollars to help elect Trump

, has had the President-elect’s ear on space matters and in December said the US should send missions straight to Mars instead of going to the moon first, raising industry concerns of a major shake-up to Nasa’s space exploration programme.

“My own opinion is that we should do both – we need to go to the moon, and we should go to Mars,” Mr Bezos said when asked if he was concerned about changes to Nasa’s moon programme.

“What we shouldn’t do is start and stop things. We should continue with the lunar programme for sure.”

Trump in his second term is expected to make sweeping changes to Nasa’s moon programme and focus heavily on sending missions to Mars. REUTERS