Kate Gallego has boldly gone where no Phoenix Mayor has gone before.
On April 26, 2023, the Mayor attended the grand opening of the Phoenix offices of the private aerospace company, Blue Origin at 2325 E. Camelback Road.
Already having a staff of 100 (with many more highly specialized specialists coming) in their Phoenix location, Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, will be using its new branch to continue implementing its mission: “a vision of millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth.”
This new 43,288 square-foot facility will, when fully staffed, “contribute to avionics, systems engineering, and supply chain management across Blue Origin’s programs.”
Blue Origin has already had several successful missions, most notably its six crewed flights with its New Shepard Rocket.
It is developing the New Glenn rocket system to propel flights to the Moon and constructing space habitats.
In a press release on the day of the grand opening of the Blue Origin Phoenix location, Mayor Gallego stated:
“Phoenix is known as a major development hub of the most cutting-edge aerospace technologies, and I am excited that Blue Origin has decided to be a part of it. Blue Origin’s new office will create great engineering jobs for Phoenicians while developing the space technology of the future.”
The Mayor later posted on social media:
Get ready for lift off! Yesterday was the grand opening of @BlueOrigin's new Phoenix office. We're thrilled to continue pushing the boundaries of space exploration from right here in our city. pic.twitter.com/DCSmvL9zeI
— Mayor Kate Gallego (@MayorGallego) April 27, 2023
In the same press release, Michael Edmonds, the Senior Vice President of Strategy, Marketing, and Sales, for Blue Origin stated:
“Blue Origin is thrilled to invest in the Valley and open our site in Phoenix, which offers a vast amount of aerospace engineering and manufacturing talent and excellent universities and trade schools statewide. This partnership will accelerate our mission to reduce the cost of access to space resources for the benefit of Earth.”
Sandra Watson, President and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority offered:
““We are excited to welcome global aerospace innovator Blue Origin to Arizona. Blue Origin’s new office will support the development of next-generation spacecraft while expanding our vibrant aerospace industry and creating skilled jobs for our growing workforce.”
There has been a marked increase in space exploration activities from both private aerospace entities like Blue Origin and N.A.S.A. over the last several years.
In 2024, astronauts will finally fly around the Moon for the first time in 52 years.
Hopefully, this burst of activity and energy in space exploration and travel will continue uninterrupted and unhindered.
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