Blue Origin is having its worst communications week ever. First, internal NASA documents showed NASA didn’t think much of Blue Origin’s “gambling” on their Human Landing System contract bid. Then, a former employee published a bombshell article accusing Blue Origin of systemic sexual harassment and a lax safety culture, among other things. These two events come on the heels of a generally lackluster performance of Blue Origin in recent months. It is safe to say that, with the exception of the New Shepard project, Blue Origin is not living up to its hype.
Blue Origin’s reputation is in freefall.
So who is running the show over there? CNBC reports Jeff Bezos works on Blue Origin - the company he founded - only a few hours a week. The responsibility for the current mess falls squarely on the shoulders of Mr. Robert Smith, the current CEO of Blue Origin.
The Curious Cosmonaut googled Bob Smith so you don’t have to. Here is what we found:
1986: Bachelor’s in Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M
1987: Masters in Applied Math/Engineering, Brown Univ.
1991: PhD in Aerospace Engineering, UT Austin
1991-2000: The Aerospace Corporation, Director of NASA Programs, Houston Office
1998: Master of Business, MIT
2000-2004: United Space Alliance, Shuttle Upgrades Program Director
2004-2017: Honeywell Aerospace, most of his time here (7 years) spent as CTO
2017: Started as Blue Origin CEO
This guy is obviously super-smart and super-experienced. He worked on the Space Shuttle during the Columbia accident. He saw what happens when go-fever results in dead astronauts: one should take allegations of a lax safety culture at Blue Origin with a grain of salt.
Smith worked on Shuttle during Columbia: he knows the consequences of a lax safety culture. But is he the right person for Blue?
But he clearly is not a right fit for the New Space industry. He was educated and trained and brought up to lead a conservative, risk-averse military contractor (a Boeing or a Lockheed) of the 1990s, not an entrepreneurial, fast-moving, risk-tolerant tech company of the twenty-first century. His track record to date, and management of Blue Origin in recent weeks shows he is not up to the task of creating a future of millions of people living and working in space.