Jeff Bezos — the billionaire founder of Amazon and rocket company Blue Origin — made a grand public announcement a year ago that he purchased a ship to capture Blue Origin rockets after they return from space, and he named the vessel after his mother. But now the company says it is doing away with that plan, seeking a more “cost effective” alternative, Blue Origin spokesperson Linda Mills said.
It is not clear what will happen to the Jacklyn, as the ship is called, which Bezos dedicated to his mother in a small ceremony in Pensacola, Florida in December 2020. Blue Origin could still use the ship for another purpose or abandon the project altogether. Mills said the company is “still assessing options.”
One alternative to the big ship is to opt for an autonomous, seafaring platform or barge, much like the droneships that SpaceX uses to catch its rockets after flight.