JAKARTA – A federal judge on Thursday, November 4 dismissed a lawsuit by Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin against the US government over NASA’s decision to award a $2.9 billion lunar lander contract to rival billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Judge Richard Hertling of the US Federal Claims Court in Washington granted the government’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed on August 16. The judge’s opinion explaining why it was sealed, like many other documents in the case, awaits this month’s meeting on the proposed editorial.
Blue Origin, created by Amazon.com Inc founder Bezos, expressed his disappointment. “Not the decision we wanted, but we respect the court’s decision, and wish NASA and SpaceX full success on their contracts,” Bezos wrote on Twitter.
NASA said Thursday it “will resume work with SpaceX” on the lunar lander contract “as soon as possible.” The space agency added it “continues to work with several American companies to increase competition and commercial readiness for crewed transportation to the lunar surface.”
Not the decision we wanted, but we respect the court’s judgment, and wish full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract. pic.twitter.com/BeXc4A8YaW
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 4, 2021
NASA suspended work on the lunar lander contract until November 1, part of an agreement between the parties to speed up the litigation schedule, culminating in a decision last Thursday.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) in July sided with NASA over its decision to select a single moon lander provider, dismissing Blue Origin’s protests.
SpaceX, led by Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk, joined the proceedings as an interventionist shortly after the lawsuit was filed.
NASA has been seeking proposals for a spacecraft that would take astronauts to the lunar surface under the Artemis program to return humans to the moon for the first time since 1972.
NASA said Thursday that: “there will be opportunities to come for the company to partner with NASA in establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon under the agency’s Artemis program, including a call in 2022 to US industry for a repeat crewed moon landing service.” “
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