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Former and current employees of Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and one of the richest people in the world, say the company is full of sexism, intolerant and lax with employees who dare to contradict their bosses. Safety.
The allegations, including allegations of sexual harassment by company executives, were made in an article written by 21 employees and former employees. and posted on the Lioness website on Thursday. Only one former employee identified himself. The article also suggested there were safety concerns about New Shepard, the vehicle that flew Mr. Bezos and three other passengers to the edge of space in July.
“In the opinion of an engineer who signed on to this paper, ‘Blue Origin was lucky, nothing has happened so far,'” the essayists said. “Most of the authors of this article say they won’t be flying the Blue Origin vehicle.”
The next New Shepard flight is scheduled for October 12, and one in four paying passengers said their plans haven’t changed.
“I have confidence in Blue Origin’s safety program, spacecraft and track record, and I certainly wouldn’t fly with them if I didn’t,” said Glen de Vries, vice president of life sciences and healthcare at French software company Dassault. In a message on Twitter, Systèmes said: “I went to the launch site, met people from all levels of the company, and everything I saw was a testament to a great team and culture.”
The other announced passenger, Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of satellite operator Planet Labs, did not respond to a request for comment.
Public speaking essayist Alexandra Abrams is a former head of employee communications at Blue Origin. He was fired from the company in 2019. also Appeared on “CBS Mornings” on Thursday.
“You can’t create a culture of safety and a culture of fear at the same time,” Ms. Abrams told CBS. “They’re incompatible.”
A Blue Origin spokesperson said Ms Abrams was fired in 2019 after repeated warnings for issues involving federal export control regulations. Ms Abrams said she had not received any verbal or written warnings.
The company also disputed the culture and safety claims.
“Blue Origin has no tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind,” the spokesperson said. “We provide numerous avenues for employees, including a 24/7 anonymous hotline, and will promptly investigate any new allegations of misconduct. We stand behind our safety record and believe New Shepard is the safest spacecraft ever designed or built.”
Mr. Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000. The company is part of a business wave with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic aimed at reducing the cost of launching rockets and making room for private enterprise and space tourists. .
In July it achieved its biggest success to date: a successful first flight with humans inside the New Shepard vehicle. This spacecraft is too small to enter Earth orbit; instead, it reaches more than 60 miles above the ground, offers a few minutes of weightlessness, and then is slowed down by parachutes and returned to Earth. In addition to the July flight, it conducted 16 successful launches without humans on board.
But aside from Mr. Bezos’ launch, Blue Origin has been stuck with not-so-nice news for the rest of this year. In the spring, the company failed to win a contract from NASA to build a lander to take astronauts back to the moon’s surface. Blue Origin appealed the decision to the Federal Government Accountability Office and lost. He is now suing NASA in the US Federal Court of Claims.
The Verge website reported Wednesday He said NASA lawyers dismissed Blue Origin’s complaints.
“Now that it has gambled and lost, Blue Origin is attempting to use GAO’s supply surveillance function to improperly force NASA to suffer the consequences of Blue Origin’s ill-conceived choices,” the lawyers said in an internal report May 26. .
The Lioness article describes a toxic, sexist culture at Blue Origin. “Former and current employees have had experiences they can only describe as dehumanizing and fear the possible consequences of speaking out against the richest man on the planet,” the essay says.
The article also says company officials forced New Shepard to launch at more than 40 flight speeds per year, with some operations understaffed and posing safety risks.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates rocket launches to ensure the safety of the public, made a statement stating that it has reviewed the information in the article, as it does with all safety claims.
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