- Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, is suing NASA because it signed a major contract with SpaceX, which is owned by Elon Musk.
- In April of this year, SpaceX won a manned landing system (HLS) contract worth $2.9 billion.
- Since losing the contract, Blue Origin has been strongly lobbying to overturn this decision.
WASHINGTON — Blue Origin, a space company owned by Jeff Bezos, is suing the US government for its decision to award a large-scale lunar exploration contract to its competitor SpaceX, a statement from the company on Monday Means in.
The statement stated that the company has filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Federal Claims Court, “trying to make up for the flaws in the way the contract is awarded.”
In April of this year, a $2.9 billion manned landing system (HLS) contract was handed over to SpaceX, which is owned by Bezos’ billionaire rival, Elon Musk.
Other bidders protested this. They believed that NASA was required to make multiple awards and that the evaluation process was unfair.
“We firmly believe that the issues identified in this purchase and their results must be resolved to restore fairness, create competition, and ensure the safe return of the United States to the moon,” said Blue Origin.
‘Bigger benefits’
Since losing the contract, Blue Origin has been strongly lobbying to overturn this decision. It protested to the Government Accountability Office, but in July, the regulator upheld NASA’s decision.
NASA said in a statement on Monday that it has received notice of the Blue Origin lawsuit and is reviewing the case.
The statement said: “Together with our partners, we will go to the moon and stay to conduct scientific investigations, develop new technologies, and create high-paying jobs for the greater benefit, and prepare for sending astronauts to Mars.”
According to the Artemis plan, NASA plans to send humans back to the moon in the middle of this decade and build a lunar orbital station, and then send manned missions to Mars in the 2030s.
Musk’s company was founded in 2002 and is currently NASA’s leading private sector partner.
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