Jeff Bezos loses bid to block Nasa SpaceX deal
The company also offered to restore competition to the Human Landing System (HLS) programme by closing the US space agency’s budgetary shortfall with a waiver of $2bn on payments
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jeff Bezos lost his bid to block a $2.9bn (£2.09bn) Nasa award to Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp for a landing system to return astronauts to the moon.
The billionaire’s space company, Blue Origin, lodged a 50-page protest of the decision with federal auditors at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The company argued that Nasa misjudged Blue Origin’s proposal in the three-way competition to build the new Moon lander, which also involved a bid from the Alabama-based defence firm Dynetics.
The three companies were competing to build the landing craft that would be used in Nasa’s Artemis programme, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the surface of the moon by 2024.
Blue Origin had challenged the $2.9bn award to Elon Musk’s SpaceX for the lander, arguing Nasa was required to make multiple awards. The GAO said it “denied the protest arguments that Nasa acted improperly in making a single award to SpaceX”.
The company also offered to restore competition to the Human Landing System (HLS) programme by closing the US space agency’s budgetary shortfall with a waiver of $2bn (£1.44bn) on payments, in an open letter to Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson.
In addition, the company said it would also fund the space vehicle’s test launch to low-Earth orbit which is likely to cost millions more.
The space agency’s evaluation of three lander proposals was “reasonable, and consistent with applicable procurement law, regulation, and the announcement’s terms,” GAO attorney Kenneth Patton said in a statement.
Blue Origin said on Friday it remained convinced that there were “fundamental issues” with Nasa’s decision, and that GAO was not able to address them “due to their limited jurisdiction”.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments