Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin loses lawsuit over NASA contract awarded to SpaceX


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."
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.
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!"
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
-
July 31 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Thursday’s political cartoons include the truth that's out there, and a comedy special about billionaires
-
Inter Alia: Rosamund Pike is 'electric' in gut-wrenching legal drama
The Week Recommends Australian playwright Suzie Miller is back with a follow up to her critically-acclaimed hit play Prima Facie
-
Unforgivable: harrowing drama about abuse and rehabilitation
The Week Recommends 'Catastrophic impact' of abuse is explored in 'thought-provoking' series
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed 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 high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement