Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin loses NASA lawsuit over SpaceX $2.9 billion lunar lander contract

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled against Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin on Thursday in the company’s lawsuit versus NASA over a lucrative astronaut lunar lander contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX earlier this year.

Federal Judge Richard Hertling sided with the defense in his ruling, completing a monthslong battle after Blue Origin sued NASA in August.

NASA said in a statement that work with SpaceX will resume “as soon as possible” now that the ruling has been issued.

“There will be forthcoming opportunities for companies to partner with NASA in establishing a long-term human presence at the Moon under the agency’s Artemis program,” the agency added.

A Blue Origin spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC that the company’s lawsuit “highlighted the important safety issues with the Human Landing System procurement process that must still be addressed.”

“Returning astronauts safely to the Moon through NASA’s public-private partnership model requires an unprejudiced procurement process alongside sound policy that incorporates redundant systems and promotes competition. Blue Origin remains deeply committed to the success of the Artemis program,” the company said.

Bezos personally added in a tweet that the ruling was “not the decision we wanted,” but noted that “we respect the court’s judgment” – implying that his company will not appeal the decision further.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

Musk, in a tweet replying to CNBC’s report on the ruling, posted a photo from the 2012 movie “Dredd.”

NASA in April awarded SpaceX with the sole contract for the agency’s Human Landing System program under a competitive process. Worth $2.9 billion, the SpaceX contract will see the company use its Starship rocket to deliver astronauts to the moon’s surface for NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions.

SpaceX was competing with Blue Origin and Dynetics for what was expected to be two contracts, before NASA only awarded a single contract due to a lower-than-expected allocation for the program from Congress.

Blue Origin quickly protested the decision with the U.S. Government Accountability Office, but the GAO in late July denied the company’s appeal – leading Bezos’ space company to escalate its legal action. Bezos is also the founder of e-commerce giant Amazon.

A redacted version of Blue Origin’s lawsuit revealed the company’s complaint focused on proving that NASA wrongly awarded the contract to only SpaceX and “disregarded key flight safety requirements” in the process.

Hertling’s ruling dismissed Blue Origin’s claims. The court’s opinion is currently sealed, as the case contains information proprietary to the companies, but the parties were ordered by Hertling to deliver proposed redactions by Nov. 18, to publicly release the opinion.

NASA’s work with SpaceX on the HLS contract was halted during the lawsuit but is scheduled to resume Monday.

The court’s decision, a blow to Blue Origin’s ambitions, comes at a mixed time of success and scrutiny for the company.

Bezos has personally increased his involvement at Blue Origin, after he stepped down as the CEO of Amazon. While the company has flown two successful crewed flights of its suborbital New Shepard rocket to date, Blue Origin has suffered from soaring employee turnover and allegations of safety issues, as well as a “toxic” work culture, by former workers.

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[YinLawn]

That's Okay Jeff. You can still sue your lawyers.

[xChemistryFTWx]

Oh man, the Elon trolling is always top-tier lmao

[keybrent]

No shocker. Elon is leaps and bounds ahead of Blue Orgin.

[vanrozay]

Bezos embarrassed himself by bringing this suit; not only did SpaceX have many more hours logged in space (good track record), but its bid was LESS THAN HALF of Blue Origin's! What kind of special magic would Bezos have needed in his bag to win the contract? Fusion power? Please!

[wwhite]

Blue origin can't even achieve escape velocity.

[RamilMagyerramov]

6 billion for barely 8 tons to the Moon surface by BO or 3 billion for upward of 100 tons by SpaceX. And NASA chose SpaceX. Shocker.

[TheMjoDoj]

It's starting to become clear why Musk never gets invited to hang out with other rich and powerful.

[FeatureRequest]

"you have been judged" lol gotta love Elon

[ralphbalita]

Too bad he can't sue his way to the moon lol

[HafeezBlackLeg]

Jeff Bezos would sue Jeff Bezos for acting like a Jeff Bezos

[nemeanlioness]

Nikola tried that too. suing when they dont even have a product

[billhickswasgreat]

If only Bezos could spend the time he spends on lawsuits on developing rocket technologies.

[NJTDover]

Up next for Besos: Sue Earth's gravity for not allowing his Dildorocket to fully reach orbit.
Elon is a badass troller.

[adriank]

Good. Now SpaceX can finally get back to work and help NASA establish a continuous human presence on the Moon

[earthwizz]

Jeff Bezos, the Trevor Milton of aerospace.

[arisejeff]

responds like a teenager would have. Love how it's not very CEO-like

[jerjam]

How can you argue your way if your rocket can’t get to orbit?

[bobdadnaila]

How do you get to sue someone for awarding a contract to someone ELSE, in the first place?

[neeljavia]

Jeff actually had the money and passion for the project.
Don't know why he is wasting both on useless suits to stop others from progressing when he himself can build a good product or service.

[BentleyBohemian_]

Maybe bezos should worry more about his work being competent and not just attacking Elon for actually being competent enough