The company announced the move in a post on X. 

As head of the group, Bruno will oversee “the development of cutting-edge products, services, and technologies aimed at enhancing national security missions,” according to an internal email from Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, seen by Bloomberg.

“We share a deep belief in supporting our nation with the best technology we can build,” Limp said in a statement. “Tory brings unmatched experience, and I’m confident he’ll accelerate our ability to deliver on that mission.”

Bruno’s hiring and the creation of the new team indicates Blue Origin is placing further emphasis on national security applications for its various rockets and space projects. Both ULA and Blue Origin are part of an elite group of rocket launch providers, including SpaceX, that are allowed to loft the most sensitive national security satellites for the US military.

Bruno’s resignation from ULA, a joint rocket venture between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., was announced on Dec. 22. He served in the role for nearly 12 years.

During his tenure leading ULA, Bruno oversaw the retirement and phasing out of the company’s older Delta and Atlas rockets, while spearheading the development of a new rocket called Vulcan. The new rocket, however, suffered from numerous delays and has struggled to ramp up its launch cadence after debuting in January 2024.

Blue Origin provides the main engines for Vulcan, while also serving as a competitor to ULA with its own New Glenn orbital rocket. While at ULA, Bruno led a joint partnership with Blue Origin in 2014 to develop the company’s BE-4 engines to be used in the Vulcan rocket.

New Glenn, which will eventually be used for national security missions, launched its second mission in November. During that flight, the rocket’s main booster successfully landed on a floating barge in the ocean after takeoff.

Blue Origin is also transitioning its in-space systems business unit into the new national security group, according to Limp’s internal memo. The current head of the unit, Paul Ebertz, will now report to Bruno. 

The in-space systems group includes projects like Blue Ring, which aims to develop a versatile satellite that can do a diverse range of tasks in space, and the company’s efforts to build a new communications spacecraft that could orbit Mars.

Holland died early Saturday morning from complications associated with kidney disease, the church announced on its website.

Holland, who died in Salt Lake City, led a governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which helps set church policy while overseeing the many business interests of what is known widely as the Mormon church.

He was the longest-tenured member of the Quorum of the Twelve after President Dallin H. Oaks, making him next in line to lead the church under a long-established succession plan. Oaks, 93, became president of the church and its more than 17 million-strong global membership in October.

Henry B. Eyring, who is 92 and one of Oaks’ two top counselors, is now next in line for the presidency.

Holland had been hospitalized during the Christmas holiday for ongoing health complications, the church said. Experts on the faith pointed to his declining health in October when Oaks did not select Holland as a counselor.

His death leaves a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve that Oaks will fill in coming months, likely by calling a new apostle from a lower-tier leadership council. Apostles are all men in accordance with the church’s all-male priesthood.

Holland grew up in St. George, Utah, and worked for many years in education administration before his call to join the ranks of church leadership. He served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University, the Utah-based faith’s flagship school, from 1980 to 1989 and was a commissioner of the church’s global education system.

Under his leadership, the Provo university worked to improve interfaith relations and established a satellite campus in Jerusalem. The Anti-Defamation League later honored Holland with its “Torch of Liberty” award for helping foster greater understanding between Christian and Jewish communities.

Oaks, also a former BYU president, reflected Saturday on his more than 50 years of friendship and service with Holland, calling their relationship “long and loving.”

“Over the last three decades as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he lifted the weary, encouraged the faithful and bore a powerful witness of the Savior — even through seasons of significant personal trials,” Oaks said.

Holland was known as a dynamic orator whose sermons combined scholarship with tenderness. In 2013 he spoke to church members about supporting loved ones with depression and other mental illnesses, sharing openly about times when he felt “like a broken vessel.”

Holland is widely remembered for a 2021 speech in which he called on church members to take up metaphorical muskets in defense of the faith’s teachings against same-sex marriage. The talk, known colloquially as “the musket fire speech,” became required reading for BYU freshmen in 2024, raising concern among LGBTQ+ students and advocates.

Holland was preceded in death by his wife, Patricia Terry Holland. He is survived by their three children, 13 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.