Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will see NASA in court.
The Amazon founder's space company filed a complaint against NASA in federal court on Monday, taking issue with the agency for awarding a $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX earlier this year, CNBC reports.
"This bid protest challenges NASA's unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals," Blue Origin lawyers reportedly said in the court filing.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
NASA previously announced that Elon Musk's SpaceX had been selected for "development of the first commercial human lander that will safely carry the next two American astronauts to the lunar surface" in a nearly $3 billion contract. Originally, NASA pledged to offer more than one contract, CNN notes. In response to complaints from Blue Origin over the decision, the Government Accountability Office said in July that NASA "did not violate procurement law or regulation when it decided to make only one award," noting that the agency concluded "it only had sufficient funding" for one.
But Blue Origin said it filed its lawsuit to "remedy" alleged "flaws in the acquisition process," per Axios, adding, "We firmly believe that the issues identified in this procurement and its outcomes must be addressed to restore fairness, create competition, and ensure a safe return to the Moon for America." This lawsuit, The Verge wrote, could potentially result in a "new lengthy delay to NASA's race to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024."
-
Savages: a tragi-comedy set in a 'quirky handcrafted world'The Week Recommends This new animated film by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Claude Barras is undeniably political, but it has a hopeful message
-
Why 'faceless bots' are interviewing job huntersIn The Spotlight Artificial intelligence is taking over a crucial part of recruitment
-
Who will win the battle for the soul of the Green Party?An ideological divide is taking root among the environmentalists
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutinySpeed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress codespeed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
