This morning, Jeff Bezos joined Twitter in triumph, announcing the success of New Shepard (no relation), a very impressive rocket built by the Amazon founder’s Blue Origin commercial space program. The big, powerful rocket recently “successfully flew to space, reaching its planned altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) before executing a historic landing back at the launch site.” According to Bezos’s first (and thus far only) tweet, the launch was particularly successful because the rocket returned to Earth in one piece.
The rarest of beasts - a used rocket. Controlled landing not easy, but done right, can look easy. Check out video: https://t.co/9OypFoxZk3
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 24, 2015Elon Musk, whose SpaceX program suffered a “major blow” when its Falcon 9 rocket exploded in June, wasn’t having any of it though. After sending his congratulations to Bezos and the Blue Origin team, Musk decided it was “well actually” time.
@JeffBezos Not quite "rarest". SpaceX Grasshopper rocket did 6 suborbital flights 3 years ago & is still around. pic.twitter.com/6j9ERKCNZl
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2015Musk delivered a series of corrections to Bezos’s claims about his rocket throughout the day.
In a way, this is the perfect introduction to Twitter for Bezos: immediately having your accomplishments undercut by a jealous rival. But really, this whole thing is just about rockets. And Elon Musk should understand that his rockets are just as impressive as Bezos’s, even if they explode.