Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has lost its lawsuit against NASA.
The Amazon founder's company took legal action against NASA over a contract that was awarded to Elon Musk's SpaceX. But on Thursday, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled against Blue Origin, siding with the defense, CNBC reports.
NASA earlier this year announced it picked SpaceX to "continue development of the first commercial human lander that will safely carry the next two American astronauts to the lunar surface" in a $2.9 billion contract. Blue Origin was also vying for this, and it was originally expected that two contracts would be awarded. Blue Origin sued in August, challenging NASA's "unlawful and improper evaluation of proposals." According to CNBC, Blue Origin also accused NASA of having "disregarded key flight safety requirements."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
The Government Accountability Office previously said NASA "did not violate procurement law or regulation when it decided to make only one award" and that the agency did so after determining it "it only had sufficient funding" for one.
A spokesperson for Blue Origin told CNBC on Thursday its lawsuit "highlighted the important safety issues with the Human Landing System procurement process that must still be addressed." Musk replied to an article about the decision with an image from the movie Judge Dredd with a caption that read, "You have been judged!"
