Weird. They must be manifested on a rideshare mission? I don’t have any problems with NASA awarding a launch to a reliable company, but I thought the point of VADR was to help funnel money to sketchy startups.

Full-size engine bells also barely light up at the top, so it might be the same material but shorter.

This also confirms that Blue Origin is still working on a crew vehicle. Old info about the “biconic capsule” that they bid for ISS Commercial Crew showed a 4-7 seater. Who knows what it is at this point or when or if it’ll ever fly, but it’s always fun to add more mysterious programs to the Blue Origin mystery chronicles.

It looks like this is the first official mention of a Starship station.

Eric Berger also said:

To add a bit of context: A couple of years ago SpaceX considered working with one of the four current providers of commercial space stations for NASA. But when it came time to decide Musk pulled back, saying SpaceX needed to focus on getting Starship into orbit first.

At the time, IIRC, the speculation was that SpaceX really phoned in their Commercial LEO Destinations bid. Berger makes it sound like they might have withdrawn?