Billionaire Jeff Bezos, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Amazon, on January 12 answered an interview with Reuters about the competition between his space company Blue Origin and billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Mr Bezos did not think Mr Musk would use his close relationship with President-elect Trump to exclude Blue Origin from the space race, and said he was “very optimistic” about the incoming administration’s space program.

Elon Musk has donated more than $250 million to Trump's campaign and was tapped by the president-elect to co-head an informal advisory board on government efficiency.

"Elon has been very clear that he is doing this for the public good and not for personal gain. And I believe him," said billionaire Jeff Bezos.

Mr Bezos's Blue Origin company is preparing to launch the New Glenn rocket, a heavy-lift, reusable launch vehicle that is seen as a rival to SpaceX's rockets.

Mr Musk is a powerful and influential figure next to Mr Trump and is trusted by the president-elect on space issues. Last month, Mr Musk attracted attention when he said the US should carry out missions to Mars instead of the moon first. His statement raised concerns in the space industry about a major change in the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) exploration program.

Commenting on the issue, Mr. Bezos said: "My opinion is that we should do both. We need to go to the moon and we should go to Mars. What we should not do is start and stop things. We should definitely continue the moon program."