Manager of Blue Origin's Rocket Engine Program Has Left the Company

As Blue Origin nears the critical point of delivering flight-ready BE-4 rocket engines to United Launch Alliance, the engineer in charge of the company's rocket engine program has decided to leave. ArsTechnica reports: Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith recently informed employees of the departure of John Vilja, the senior vice president of Blue Engines. In Smith's email to employees, obtained by Ars, Vilja is said to be leaving Blue to pursue his "many" interests and hobbies outside of work. "During his time at Blue, John led the team to support eight New Shepard missions powered by BE-3PM engines, countless hot fire tests, and made progress on multiple engines development programs," Smith wrote. "He also built a world-class Engines team, recruiting some of the best talent in the business." Sources familiar with Vilja's work confirmed that he was a good manager and engineer who helped get the BE-4 rocket engine program back on track. As Ars reported last August, before Vilja's arrival, the numerous challenges faced by the engineers and technicians working to build and test BE-4 development engines included being "hardware poor."

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