Bezos’ Blue Origin loses lawsuit in opposition to NASA over SpaceX lunar lander

The U.S. Courtroom of Federal Claims dominated in opposition to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin on Thursday within the firm’s lawsuit versus NASA over a profitable astronaut lunar lander contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX earlier this 12 months.

Federal Choose Richard Hertling sided with the protection in his ruling, finishing a monthslong battle after Blue Origin sued NASA in August.

A Blue Origin spokesperson stated in an announcement to CNBC that the corporate’s lawsuit “highlighted the necessary questions of safety with the Human Touchdown System procurement course of that should nonetheless be addressed.”

“Returning astronauts safely to the Moon via NASA’s public-private partnership mannequin requires an unprejudiced procurement course of alongside sound coverage that comes with redundant programs and promotes competitors. Blue Origin stays deeply dedicated to the success of the Artemis program,” the corporate stated.

NASA and SpaceX didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon the ruling.

Musk, in a tweet responding to CNBC’s report on the ruling, posted a photograph from the 2012 film “Dredd.”

NASA in April awarded SpaceX with the only real contract for the company’s Human Touchdown System program beneath a aggressive course of. Value $2.9 billion, the SpaceX contract will see the corporate use its Starship rocket to ship astronauts to the moon’s floor for NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions.

SpaceX was competing with Blue Origin and Dynetics for what was anticipated to be two contracts, earlier than NASA solely awarded a single contract on account of a lower-than-expected allocation for this system from Congress.

Blue Origin shortly protested the choice with the U.S. Authorities Accountability Workplace, however the GAO in late July denied the corporate’s attraction – main Bezos’ area firm to escalate its authorized motion.

A redacted model of Blue Origin’s lawsuit revealed the corporate’s criticism centered on proving that NASA wrongly awarded the contract to solely SpaceX and “disregarded key flight security necessities” within the course of.

Hertling’s ruling dismissed Blue Origin’s claims. The court docket’s opinion is presently sealed, because the case comprises info proprietary to the businesses, however the events had been ordered by Hertling to ship proposed redactions by Nov. 18, to publicly launch the opinion.

NASA’s work with SpaceX on the HLS contract was halted in the course of the lawsuit however is scheduled to renew Monday.