Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin is suing the US government. It’s about a billion-dollar contract that NASA had awarded to its rival Elon Musk and his company SpaceX.
The space company Blue Origin of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has sued the US government over a billion dollar contract with the competitor SpaceX from Tesla founder Elon Musk.
As Blue Origin announced on Monday, “errors” in the award procedure for the new lunar module of the NASA space agency are to be corrected with the lawsuit. NASA awarded the $ 2.9 billion (€ 2.5 billion) contract to SpaceX in April.
After Bezos lawsuit: Nasa now wants to examine the case
“We firmly believe that the issues in the procurement process and its outcome need to be resolved to restore fairness, ensure competition and ensure a safe return to the moon for America,” said Blue Origin.
Blue Origin had already protested violently against NASA’s decision immediately after the award to SpaceX and, among other things, lodged a complaint with the US audit office. Nasa said on Monday that it had been informed of the lawsuit from Blue Origin and was investigating the case.
Mission plans first moon landing in more than 50 years
For the first time since 1972, NASA wants to bring astronauts to the moon again. With the Artemis one mission, according to the previous plans, a spaceship is to be launched as a test flight to the moon at the end of this year. Initially without a crew, it should orbit the moon and then return to earth.
With Artemis two, astronauts should orbit the moon in 2023. Only with Artemis three will astronauts actually land on the earth’s satellite. Ex-US President Donald Trump had set NASA a deadline of 2024 for this. It is still unclear whether Trump’s successor Joe Biden will stick to the extremely ambitious schedule.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
