Behind the curtain: Ars goes inside Blue Origin’s secretive rocket factory

Welcome to Blue Origin, where you're greeted with a replica of the spacecraft in Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon. (credit: Blue Origin)

KENT, Wash.-Notebooks in hand, we gathered around a long table inside Jupiter 2, a conference room on the second floor of Blue Origin's headquarters. Ten of us had come at the company's invitation to see for the first time, first hand, where Blue Origin builds its spaceships and rockets. For years, this had been undiscovered country for journalists. And then Jeff Bezos, as casual as you please in a blue and white checkered shirt and designer jeans, strolled into the room.

Bezos may be better known for upending the retail world with Amazon and making himself the fifth richest person in the world along the way. But his passion lies above in the night sky. He has thought about building rockets and flying into space since he was five years old, so he started this day accordingly. "Alright, are you guys ready to have some fun?" he asked.

We were.

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