The Tense Relationship Between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos: Between Space Rockets, Science Fiction, and Space Success

It all started over a dinner in July 2004. One sentence froze the hot North American summer at that restaurant table. The words came out of his mouth Elon Musk They also questioned Jeff Bezos. “Don’t do that stupid thing” He said it wasn’t the first piece of advice he’d heard that evening.

It seemed like a sweet meeting between young lovers Space exploration Ended in one Great competitions in the world of technology: that Musk Y pesos, which continues to this day two decades later. A fact revealed in Christian Davenport’s book, Space barons. Why face them? How to build reusable rockets, It makes space travel possible.

Creator Neuralink and the current owner Red Social X He has just become the chairman of the board and principal financier of the world’s most prestigious and transformative automobile company: Tesla. Founded by Bezos Amazon Five years ago and in 2000 Blue appearance. A lot of water will pass under the bridge until they both become the most influential and richest people in the world.

“Actually, I went out of my way to give good advice, which he mostly ignored,” Musk said after the meeting. That dinner wasn’t just another dinner: it was a gateway Competition without return. had begun A battle between the “sci-fi barons”.Although there are many common points between the two.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have many points in common, despite facing huge competition. Pursuing their passions, formal, cheerful and sometimes childlike enthusiasm, the two have similar tastes.

Childhood for both, however different they were, was an inexhaustible source of imagination and curiosity that laid the foundation for their intense passion. Space and its study.

From an early age, Bezos and Musk immersed themselves in the pages of books Science fictionWith special interest in the works of such authors Isaac Asimov Y Robert Heinlein. In an interview with the creator SpaceX They asked him how he learned about space rockets. No one expected an answer. “I read books,” said the old man, “and that works to escape them.” mental stress. Reading is a way to escape from problems.

Bezos’ case is very similar when explaining how his aerospace company, Blue Origin, came to be. In addition to noting the great influence of Asimov Bicentennial Man Y Yo, robotAmong other things, the creator of the Amazon mentions a special date, the day everything changed for him: when man reached the moon.

Stories of distant worlds, advanced technology and intergalactic adventures fueled a fascination for the unknown and unexplored, leading to the founding of two iconic companies, SpaceX and Blue Origin.

According to the account Walter Isaacson In autobiography Elon Musk Of the Amazon creator, “Like Musk, he started his space projects more like a missionary than a mercenary.”

The year was 1969. Bezos was five years old, but he remembers the humanistic milestone like it was yesterday. On July 20 that year, he watched a telecast of the president’s mission Apollo 11Done with Neil Armstrong Walking on the lunar surface. He defines it as a “profound moment” in his life. It led him to finance six expeditions to recover the ship from the Atlantic Ocean.

Principals share another flavor associated with celebrity culture: they are fans Star Trek. Bezos knows the chapters by heart. “When he graduated high school with top marks, he gave a speech in which he talked about colonizing planets, building space hotels and saving our world by finding other places to build factories,” Isaacson recounts in the book.

“Space, the last frontier, look for me there!” As Bezos used to say.

His interest is that he wears a patch about the series and the movie on his jacket. To know its origins, it is necessary to refer to the 19th Cadet Squadron of the United States Air Force Academy. Starship 19.

In 1975, they obtained written permission from the creator Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, to use the Starship name and phrase on their graduation jacket logo. Although the graduation link has been redesigned, Musk uses the original from 1975, which includes the iconic phrase from the TV series: “No man has gone before.”

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk first met in 2004 when Bezos accepted Musk’s invitation to visit SpaceX. That relationship was strained when Elon sent an email to Bezos. What was he telling him? He was disappointed when he did not receive an invitation to come to the Blue Origin factory in Seattle. He was angry because the invitation was not accepted.

Bezos decided to call him immediately. At that time, hand in hand with his wife, JustinElon toured the facilities of the creator’s company Amazon. But the comments waited until dinner that night. The Competition There is no twist between them and it grows over the years.

“We already tried that and it turned out stupid, so I’m warning you, don’t do the stupid thing we did,” Musk continued pompously. As Bezos recalled in his biography of Musk, during the meal, he had the impression that Musk was “a little too sure of himself because he couldn’t launch a rocket yet.”

Dinner ended with an awkward feeling. However, things get worse. Till 2011, SpaceX made a series of contracts for NASA To develop rockets capable of carrying humans to the International Space Station. Musk had to rent Cape Canaveral facilities Platform 39Bezos has been imprinted on his mind since childhood.

In 2013, Bezos decided to run for both emotional and practical reasons. When NASA ended up awarding the tender to SpaceX, Bezos appealed. Musk was furious and declared that it was ridiculous to appeal Blue Origin’s decision “when they can’t even put a toothpick into orbit.” He also made fun of their rockets.

Eventually, Bezos was able to rent a nearby complex Cape Canaveral, Platform 36, which was the origin of the Mars and Venus missions. “The race for millionaire babies was destined to continue,” Isaacson describes the episode in the book.

But the competition reached its peak The decisive point In a conflict that shook the foundations of the space industry. The turning point came when Bezos made a pitch Copyright Entitled “Marine Landing for Space Vehicles”.

The result? The Ira Kasthuri sparks a controversy that threatens to tear the universe of space exploration apart. He publicly denounced Bezos’ patent as a “blatant attempt” to claim ownership of an idea that had been debated for decades in the space community.

As the heated dispute between the two tycoons escalates and the battle for supremacy in the space turns into a battle of egos and strategies, both businessmen are willing to go to any lengths to achieve their goals.

The following year, Bezos agreed to revoke the patent after SpaceX sued, but the dispute continued.

“Hawk Landed” is etched in collective memory. In 2015, Musk achieved the previously impossible: The World’s largest rocket landing It marked the front and back of the space race.

The scene unfolded in the control room, where the excitement was palpable and monitors showed the rocket in a vertical position on the platform, while the launch relay echoed Neil Armstrong’s iconic words as he set foot on the moon: “The Falcon landed”.

News of the rocket’s successful landing spread quickly, prompting a wave of celebration at SpaceX. Elon Musk couldn’t contain his excitement and was caught in a whirlwind of emotions as he absorbed the scale of what he had achieved. The festive atmosphere extended to a beach bar called “Fishlips” where he shared the joy of the moment with his staff and privileged witnesses.

Amidst the excitement and euphoria, however, was a rivalry between Musk and Bezos, with Bezos’ congratulatory tweet, while apparently friendly, carrying a subtle provocation by referring to the SpaceX rocket as a “suborbital.”

Technically, Bezos was right. Anger returned to Kasturi’s body. And the competition continued.