Jeff Bezos, left, and Elon Musk
Getty Images; Reuters
The U.S. Federal Court of Claims ruled against Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin in the company’s lawsuit against NASA over a lucrative astronaut lunar lander contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX earlier this year.
Federal judge Richard Hertling sided with the defense in his ruling, completing a months long battle after Blue Origin sued NASA in August.
NASA in April awarded SpaceX with the sole contract for the agency’s Human Landing System program under a competitive process. Worth $2.9 billion, the SpaceX contract will see the company use its Starship rocket to deliver astronauts to the moon’s surface for NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions.
Blue Origin quickly protested the decision with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, but the GAO in late July denied the company’s appeal – leading Bezos’ space company to escalate its legal action.
A redacted version of Blue Origin’s lawsuit revealed the company’s complaint focused on proving that NASA wrongly awarded to only SpaceX and “disregarded key flight safety requirements” in the process.
Hertling’s ruling dismissed Blue Origin’s claims. The court’s opinion is currently sealed, as the case contains information proprietary to the companies, but the parties were ordered by Hertling to deliver proposed redactions by Nov. 18, to publicly release the opinion.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
