A lead engineer at Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has left to join Elon Musk's SpaceX. He was working on Bl

[Elderberry]

Markets Insider by Kate Duffy 8/17/2021

A lead engineer at Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has left to join Elon Musk's SpaceX. He was working on Blue Origin's moon lander.

•   A top engineer at Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is leaving to join Elon Musk's SpaceX.

•   Nitin Arora was working on Blue Origin's moon lander.

•   It comes after NASA picked SpaceX, and not Blue Origin, for a major moon-landing contract.

A lead engineer on Blue Origin's moon lander project is leaving to join SpaceX.

It follows Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company, losing out to Elon Musk's SpaceX on a $2.9 billion NASA contract to take humans to the moon.

Nitin Arora on Monday announced in a LinkedIn post that he was leaving Blue Origin after nearly three years at the company.

Arora was working on Blue Origin's lunar lander, designed to carry different payloads to the moon's surface.

More: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/blue-origin-lead-engineer-quits-spacex-nasa-moon-lander-fight-2021-8

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Here’s why Blue Origin thinks it is justified in continuing to protest NASA

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/08/heres-why-blue-origin-thinks-it-is-justified-in-continuing-to-protest-nasa/

"They will never get a real government contract after this," one NASA source predicted, following the lawsuit filing. The sentiment may be similar at the US Space Force, which is frustrated by delays in the delivery of BE-4 rocket engines for United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket.

These tactics have also alienated some of Blue Origin's work force. Several employees have told Ars that they are appalled by their corporate leadership's decision to attack both NASA and SpaceX in the wake of the lunar lander contract decision.

One user who identified as a Blue Origin employee took to reddit on Monday to express the frustrations of some, if not a majority, of people working at the Washington state-based company. "I personally believe that the vast majority of the company's employees do NOT agree with the infographics and other PR stunts that the company's leadership has been pushing," the employee wrote. "I have not met a single one that does feel this way. In fact, most of us are rather disgusted and embarrassed to be represented in this manner."

There are concerns that Blue Origin's aggressive attitude toward the Human Landing System contract will drive key employees away as morale drops. On Monday, for example, a senior engineer on Blue Origin's Human Landing System project, Nitin Arora, announced on LinkedIn that he is leaving the company to work at SpaceX. "Next stop, SpaceX! I am incredibly excited and looking forward to it," he wrote.

So what is Blue Origin's motivation behind the latest lawsuit?

[DB]

Never a good idea to piss off your customer or your key engineers.

[Elderberry]

Amazon grocery exec Wei Gao, once an advisor to Bezos, departs the company

CNBC by Annie Palmer 8/16/2021

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/16/amazon-grocery-executive-wei-gao-departs.html

Gao also held the highly coveted role of “shadow” adviser to Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos while he was CEO from July 2018 to January 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile. Shadows typically go on to esteemed roles within the company. Gao was one of only two female executives to be appointed Bezos’ shadow.

Gao’s departure, which was first reported by Insider, adds to recent turnover among Amazon’s leadership ranks. Last week, Amazon confirmed that Charlie Bell, a top executive in its cloud business, is leaving the company. Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business, stepped down earlier this year. Wilke was considered a candidate to replace Bezos, who in July handed the role of CEO to cloud boss Andy Jassy.