SpaceX is far larger and further along than Blue Origin in flight cadence and operational scale. Falcon 9 flew 165 launches in 2025, and SpaceX’s Starlink had 10.3 million subscribers at the end of March 2026. Blue Origin is an owner-funded company whose New Glenn rocket reached orbit in January 2025 and had a vehicle destroyed in a static-fire test in May 2026.
Both SpaceX and Blue Origin hold NASA lunar lander contracts, and the Space Force certifies both companies’ rockets for national-security missions. The two companies are rivals, but they are also partners on NASA’s Artemis lander work.
The Comparison at a Glance
| Measure | Blue Origin | SpaceX |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership and funding | Privately held; funded primarily by Jeff Bezos | Publicly traded on Nasdaq (ticker SPCX since 12 June 2026) |
| Operational orbital rocket | New Glenn | Falcon 9 |
| Rocket height and fairing diameter | 98 meters tall; 7-meter payload fairing | 70 meters tall; 5.2-meter payload fairing (Falcon 9) |
| Orbital flight record | 3 orbital launches through September 2026 | 165 Falcon 9 launches in 2025; 110 through 2 October 2026 |
| Crew or passenger vehicles | New Shepard (suborbital capsule) | Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon (flown on Falcon 9 to the International Space Station for NASA) |
| Lunar lander contract role | Blue Moon lander ($3.4 billion award, May 2023, Artemis V) | Starship Human Landing System ($2.89 billion award, April 2021) |
| Revenue disclosure | Private; financial totals not published | Public; $18.7 billion total revenue reported for 2025 in Form S-1 |
Flight Record and Launch Scale
SpaceX leads Blue Origin in orbital launch volume. Through 2 October 2026, Falcon 9 had flown 110 times in the calendar year, following 165 launches in 2025 and 132 in 2024. That cadence comes from Falcon 9, which flew only twice in 2010 but reached 60 launches in 2022 and 91 in 2023. SpaceX lands and reflies Falcon 9 boosters with a turnaround of a few weeks, flying Starlink, NASA, commercial, and national-security payloads, as tracked in our Falcon 9 launches per year guide.
Blue Origin’s two-stage New Glenn rocket first reached orbit in January 2025. That flight lost its booster on its landing attempt; the booster is meant to land on a ship named Jacklyn. Through September 2026, New Glenn logged three total orbital launches. Two incidents followed in spring 2026. An upper-stage malfunction took place on 19 April 2026. Shortly after, on 28 May 2026, a vehicle was destroyed during a static-fire test at Space Launch Complex 36 (SLC-36) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The test severely damaged the launch complex, with press reporting indicating that repairs could take more than a year and valuing the lost vehicle at over $100 million. No confirmed casualties were reported, and Blue Origin did not publish the root cause.
Heavy-Lift Rockets and Engine Architectures
The two companies have pursued distinct vehicle architectures, propellants, and fairing volumes. Falcon 9 measures about 70 meters tall with a 5.2-meter payload fairing. Its first stage relies on nine Merlin engines burning rocket propellant 1 (RP-1) kerosene and liquid oxygen. SpaceX quotes a payload capacity to low Earth orbit (LEO) of 17,500 kilograms with an ocean drone-ship booster landing, or 22,800 kilograms in fully expendable mode. SpaceX charges a standard commercial list price of $74 million per launch according to its 2026 rate sheet, up from $70 million in 2025, as detailed in our analysis of Falcon 9 launch costs. SpaceX does not disclose its internal marginal cost per launch.
New Glenn stands approximately 98 meters tall with a 7-meter payload fairing. The first stage uses seven BE-4 engines burning liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen, while the expendable second stage uses two BE-3U engines burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Blue Origin advertises roughly 45,000 kilograms (45 metric tons) to low Earth orbit for the baseline two-stage vehicle, with a larger variant targeting more than 70,000 kilograms. Blue Origin has not published an official New Glenn list price. Outside analyst estimates range between $68 million and $110 million per flight, as examined in our review of New Glenn launch costs. A full technical comparison of these two rockets appears in our Falcon 9 vs New Glenn comparison.
SpaceX is also developing Starship, a fully reusable two-stage rocket measuring roughly 120 meters stacked. Starship pairs a Super Heavy booster powered by roughly 33 Raptor engines with an upper stage powered by six Raptors, all burning methane and liquid oxygen. On Flight 14, Starship reached orbit for the first time after launching from Starbase, Texas, taking roughly 25 minutes to achieve orbit before deploying 26 V3 Starlink satellites over approximately 30 minutes. SpaceX reported that these V3 satellites provide roughly ten times the capacity of a standard Falcon 9 Starlink payload. Both stages of Starship are designed to land and refly, with the booster caught by tower arms. In-orbit propellant transfer has not yet been demonstrated at the operational scale required for lunar missions. Readers can explore the head-to-head metrics of these heavy systems in our Starship vs New Glenn guide and our overview of what is Starship.
Lunar Landers for the Artemis Program
NASA selected both SpaceX and Blue Origin to provide human landing services for the Artemis lunar program. In April 2021, NASA awarded SpaceX the Starship Human Landing System (HLS) contract valued at $2.89 billion. To complete a lunar landing, Starship HLS needs propellant transfer between two Starships in orbit.
In May 2023, NASA awarded Blue Origin a separate $3.4 billion contract for the Blue Moon lander. Blue Moon uses BE-7 engines burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and will launch to space on New Glenn. According to reporting from the NASA Office of Inspector General, Blue Origin anticipates conducting an uncrewed lunar flight demonstration in February 2029. Blue Moon is formally assigned to the Artemis V mission, as outlined in our overview of the Artemis program.
NASA adjusted the Artemis flight manifest on 13 May 2026. The agency announced that Artemis III will fly in 2027 as a crewed low Earth orbit demonstration rather than a lunar landing, conducting rendezvous and docking tests between the Orion spacecraft and commercial landers provided by SpaceX and Blue Origin. The first crewed lunar touchdown under the Artemis framework was formally deferred to Artemis IV. Under this re-plan, landers from both companies take part in the Artemis III docking tests before the crewed landing on Artemis IV.
Revenue Lines Beyond Orbital Launch
In 2025, SpaceX earned the majority of its revenue from Starlink rather than launch. In its Form S-1 registration statement made public on 20 May 2026, SpaceX reported total 2025 revenue of $18.7 billion. Its Connectivity division, which operates the Starlink constellation, generated $11.4 billion of that total; Starlink had 10.3 million subscribers by the end of March 2026 compared to 8.9 million in 2025. The Space division, comprising launch and NASA crew services, generated about $4.0 billion. The AI segment, reflecting xAI following its acquisition in February 2026, contributed $3.2 billion. SpaceX reported a 2025 operating loss of $2.6 billion, space research and development spending of about $3.0 billion primarily directed at Starship, and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $6.6 billion under its own non-GAAP definition. Further financial context is available in our Starlink explainer.
Blue Origin does not publish its revenue, but its activities extend beyond New Glenn. Its reusable suborbital vehicle, New Shepard, launches from West Texas. Powered by a single BE-3 engine, the New Shepard capsule carries up to six passengers past the 100-kilometer Karman line, offering three minutes of weightlessness during a 10-to-11-minute flight. Jeff Bezos flew on the initial crewed mission on 20 July 2021. Following a booster failure on 12 September 2022 (mission NS-23), New Shepard was grounded until the uncrewed NS-24 mission in December 2023, returning to human flights with NS-25 in May 2024 as detailed in our guide on New Shepard explained.
Beyond New Shepard, Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine also powers United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. New Glenn also carries some of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites. In September 2026, NASA selected Blue Origin for a firm-fixed-price contract worth up to $700 million to design, construct, launch, and operate a Mars telecommunications orbiter. That contract requires spacecraft delivery by the end of 2028 and an operational Mars communications network by 2030.
Ownership Structure and Public Financial Disclosures
The two companies have different ownership models. Blue Origin was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos and remains an entirely private enterprise. Bezos has funded the company mainly from his personal wealth. In a September 2017 public disclosure, Bezos confirmed that he had invested at least $2.5 billion of his personal wealth into the New Glenn development effort. As of 2026, Blue Origin has no announced initial public offering (IPO) and does not publish its revenue or finances, as noted in our analysis on whether Blue Origin is publicly traded.
SpaceX transitioned from private ownership to the public equity markets in mid-2026. On 12 June 2026, SpaceX listed its common stock on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol SPCX at a listing price of $135 per share. The base offering raised approximately $75 billion. Historical details on this public listing can be reviewed in our SpaceX IPO overview.
Public market stock prices change continuously, and this overview does not publish current share prices, price targets, or valuation judgements. This comparison is educational reference material and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell securities. Readers seeking SpaceX financial data should read the company’s filings on the SEC EDGAR database.
Verdict: Which Company Leads on What
Which company leads depends on the measure. SpaceX leads on launch volume. Falcon 9 flew 165 times in 2025 and 110 times through 2 October 2026. Falcon 9 also flies Crew Dragon to the International Space Station for NASA.
Blue Origin leads on fairing width among the two companies’ operational rockets, and New Glenn is a second certified option alongside Falcon 9 for national-security missions. New Glenn’s payload fairing is 7 meters wide, against about 5.2 meters for Falcon 9. Amazon uses New Glenn for some of its Project Kuiper satellites.
Two developments would change this comparison. A New Glenn return to flight, which has no published date, would begin to add to the three flights it has logged. Regular orbital Starship flights and a demonstrated in-orbit propellant transfer would extend SpaceX’s lead in payload mass. Satellite operators and mission planners can verify launch specifications on the Blue Origin New Glenn page and the SpaceX Falcon 9 page.