[mLuby]

Right now Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are in about the same place, with SpaceShipTwo ahead of New Shepard in terms of test flights (and presumably crew rating). Both will provide suborbital tourist flights.

SpaceX isn't in that game; they're trying to get the Falcon 9 crew-rated for orbital flights. If Blue Origin's New Glenn ever gets off the ground, they may pursue an orbital crew rating as well.

[walrus01]

Blue Origin is presently spending a great deal of money developing New Glenn. I would be very surprised if we don't see a flight test of the "v1.0" full scale rocket before 2025.

Virgin Galactic has nothing in development with anywhere near the velocity capability for low earth orbit. Going up in a parabola to 100 km or 150 km and then coming back down again, a few hundred km down range, is a very different sort of delta-v requirement versus putting something in a stable orbit.

They are in "about the same place" for things that are flying now, but for the next generation beyond that, Blue Origin is far ahead.

[tzfld]

>If Blue Origin's New Glenn ever gets off the ground

Are you having doubts?

[mLuby]

Few doubts given their benefactor's unlimited resources, but it's worth remembering how unexpected SpaceX's successes were.

I'm mainly pointing that it's odd to compare aspirations with accomplishment. I've thought about climbing Everest, and even planned a route and bought some gear, but that doesn't put me in the same category as Norgay or Hillary.