Judge Rules Against Blue Origin On NASA Lunar Lander Contract

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has lost its fight against NASA over a lunar lander contract the space agency awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX earlier this year.

In a ruling Thursday by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, federal judge Richard Hertling sided with NASA; details of the opinion will be released at a later time, according to court records.

In a post on Twitter, Musk seemingly celebrated the news, commenting on a story from CNBC reporter Michael Sheetz.

The controversy started in April after NASA awarded a $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX to design a lunar craft that could carry astronauts to the moon’s surface for the first time since the Apollo program landed there in 1969.

Blue Origin fired back at the announcement in July, releasing an open letter on its website to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson that accused NASA of failing to provide the same opportunities to Blue Origin that it did to SpaceX, giving Musk’s company an unfair advantage in the final selection process.

Blue Origin said NASA missed an opportunity by not allowing both companies to move forward together in the mission to the moon.

“NASA should embrace its original strategy of competition. Competition will prevent any single source from having insurmountable leverage over NASA,” said the letter, which was signed by Bezos.

“Without competition, a short time into the contract, NASA will find itself with limited options as it attempts to negotiate missed deadlines, design changes, and cost overruns.”

Blue Origin filed an official complaint with the U.S. Government Accountability Office in which it and another company based in Alabama claimed NASA unreasonably evaluated proposals. But the GAO denied the request, saying NASA’s selection process was reasonable and that Blue Origin failed to prove it would have, in fact, been awarded the contract under different circumstances.

On August 13, Blue Origin filed its lawsuit against NASA in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, protesting its contract with SpaceX. In the suit, Blue Origin claimed NASA was “unlawful and improper” in its evaluation of proposals.

As a result, NASA temporarily paused work with SpaceX, according to Reuters.