Battle of the Billionaires: US Court Dismisses Blue Origin Lawsuit Against SpaceX’s $2.9 Billion NASA Contract
As we have mentioned previously, just because you are a billionaire— does not mean you can always get what you want.
Which is precisely what Amazon billionaire and space travel connoisseur Jeff Bezos came to realize once again on Thursday, after Blue Origin’s lawsuit against rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX being awarded a lucrative NASA contract was dismissed.
The NASA lawsuit was centered around the space agency solely awarding a $2.89 billion contract for the construction of its Artemis lunar lander to SpaceX, bidding out Blue Origin and rival Dynetics Inc. This prompted the two latter companies to file a legal complaint against the decision with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). The suit ended up getting rejected back in August, but only after Bezos pleaded to forego $2 billion towards the contract if NASA reconsidered its earlier decision.
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal claims court, was dismissed by Judge Richard Hertling on Thursday, and bars both parties from revealing details of the decision until November 18, once redacted versions will be made public. The Amazon founder took to twitter to announce the defeat, admitting that it was “not the decision we wanted,” but wished “full success for NASA and SpaceX on the contract.”
The court’s latest decision comes at a pivotal moment for Blue Origin, which has faced both success and scrutiny as of late. After stepping down from his position as Amazon CEO in the second quarter, Bezos took on a more hands-on involvement in his space exploration company Blue Origin, which has already completed two crewed flights into suborbital space. But, as cited by CNBC, the company has also simultaneously faced allegations of safety concerns and high employee turnover.
Blue Origin’s shortcomings and aggressive rivalry against Tesla soon became the butt of Musk’s jokes, which focused on the space cowboy’s inability to “sue his way to the moon.” Indeed, it wouldn’t be Musk fashion to let Bezos’ defeat go down without a comment, and as such, the Tesla CEO took one last jab at the rival billionaire, posting a meme from the 2012 movie Dredd on twitter with the caption that he had been “judged.”
Information for this briefing was found via Twitter and CNBC. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
