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Federal Claims Court Gives Elon Musk the Final Win Over Jeff Bezos

Never in the history of man did two companies fight each other so bitterly for a shot at being included in the Artemis Moon program. Then again, never in the history of man did we have so many companies involved in space exploration.
SpaceX Starship human lander design 12 photos
Photo: SpaceX
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The first Artemis mission is yet to take off, but the big players of the industry are already positioning themselves to get as big a piece of a pie as possible. Take the lunar lander saga that started back in 2019, when NASA announced the 11 companies competing to come up with the Moon landers, the hardware that should allow astronauts to descend to the surface of the satellite, for Artemis.

It soon became apparent this would be a fight between Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. A fight Musk eventually won this April, when NASA announced it selected SpaceX for the task ahead.

Bezos, having already shown with grand fanfare the Blue Moon lander (SpaceX is yet to show one) got upset, obviously, and protested with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), pleaded, and offered discounts to NASA if it changes its mind.

The company’s calls were left unanswered, so Bezos took the next logical step and filed a lawsuit with the United States Court of Federal Claims. A lawsuit that ended just as badly this week for Blue Origin.

The decisions seem to have not upset Bezos as much this time, as he tweeted “not the decision we wanted, but we respect the court’s judgment, and wish full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract,” also signaling he’s given up the fight over this matter.

Over at its end, NASA said it “will resume work with SpaceX under the Option A contract as soon as possible,” but also offers a glimmer of hope for Blue Origin stating that “there will be forthcoming opportunities for companies to partner with NASA” for Artemis.
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Editor's note: Gallery shows the Blue Origin Blue Moon lander.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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