NASA tells SpaceX to halt work on lunar landing after Jeff Bezos protested contract - prompting Elon Musk to troll Blue Origin chief by joking he 'couldn't get it up'
NASA has told Elon Musk's SpaceX to halt building a lunar spacecraft, pending the outcome of challenges by rival bidders Jeff Bezos and defense contractor Dynetics at the Government Accountability Office, the agency said on Friday.
NASA's decision means SpaceX has to stop any work specifically related to the moon program contract until the GAO makes a ruling, expected August 4 at the latest.
A SpaceX spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this month, NASA awarded SpaceX the lunar contract over billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics.
The high-profile project aims to put humans back on the moon for the first time since 1972.
Blue Origin on Monday filed a protest with the GAO, arguing among other things that NASA gave SpaceX the chance to revise its bid but did not give that chance to Blue Origin.
SpaceX founder and chief engineer Elon Musk (seen above in Cape Canaveral, Florida on January 19, 2020) has been told by NASA to halt construction on a lunar lander
SpaceX was contracted by NASA to build a lunar lander. The HLS Starship will include the company's tested Raptor engines, along with pulling inspiration from the Falcon and Dragon vehicles' designs
SpaceX beat out Jeff Bezos' (above) Blue Origin and another company, Dynetics. Bezos and Dynetics earlier this week filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office against NASA
Musk trolled his fellow multibillionaire Bezos on Monday, joking that he 'can't get it up (to orbit)' after the Amazon founder's space company filed a protest against NASA for picking rival SpaceX to build a lunar lander
Blue Origin also argues the decision extends SpaceX's "monopolistic" control in space exploration.
The GAO confirmed that Dynetics has also challenged the NASA contract award to SpaceX.
'Pursuant to the GAO protests, NASA instructed SpaceX that progress on the HLS (human landing system) contract has been suspended until GAO resolves all outstanding litigation related to this procurement,' the agency said on Friday.
Musk trolled his fellow multibillionaire Bezos on Monday, joking that he 'can't get it up (to orbit)' after the Amazon founder's space company filed a protest against NASA for picking rival SpaceX to build a lunar lander.
Musk took to Twitter to tease Bezos over that lawsuit on Monday evening, and replied to a tweet sharing a New York Times story about the space wrangle, writing: 'Can’t get it up (to orbit) lol.'
Bezos' company said that its bid was $5.99billion while SpaceX's bid came in at $2.91billion, according to AL.com.
Musk's Starship - the futuristic, shiny steel rocketship that's been launching and -on one occasion - exploding in Texas - beat out landers proposed by Bezos' Blue Origin and Dynetics, a Huntsville, Alabama-based subsidiary of Leidos.
News of Bezos’ 50-page protest was first reported on Monday by The New York Times.
Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin, said NASA's decision to award the contract to SpaceX was based on flawed evaluations.
Smith also accused NASA of placing a bigger emphasis on cost than it said it would. He said the space agency should have stuck to its oft-stated desire to award the contract to two companies.
'It's really atypical for NASA to make these kinds of errors,' Smith told the Times.
'They're generally quite good at acquisition, especially its flagship missions like returning America to the surface of the moon.
'We felt that these errors needed to be addressed and remedied.'
'NASA has executed a flawed acquisition for the Human Landing System program and moved the goalposts at the last minute,' the company said in a statement.
'In NASA's own words, it has made a "high risk" selection,' the Blue Origin statement said.
‘Their decision eliminates opportunities for competition, significantly narrows the supply base, and not only delays, but also endangers America’s return to the Moon.
'Because of that, we’ve filed a protest with the GAO.'
Lawyers for Blue Origin told AL.com that 'NASA had indicated an overriding intention to make two awards but due to perceived shortfalls in currently available and anticipated future budget appropriations, it made only the award to SpaceX, eliminating HLS competition, and effectively locking down immediate and future lunar landing system development and launch and lunar landing opportunities.'
America has not witnessed a human landing system since 1972 and NASA has been planning an epic return to the moon for quite some time.
However, the historic moon landing turned into a space race between billionaires when NASA announced last year that SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics were competing to turn the plans into a reality.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said during a live feed in April: 'With these contract awards, America is moving forward with the final step needed to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024, including the incredible moment when we will see the first woman set foot on the lunar surface.'
The initial 10-month contracts totaled to $967 million: Blue Origin received $579 million, Dynetics $253 million and SpaceX was awarded $135 million.
But now, it will be SpaceX's innovation that will carry the next two American astronauts the the lunar surface.
Blue Origin has been working on moon landing system, known as Blue Moon, since 2017. The firm had designed a mockup for a revised version it planned to send to the moon
The Artemis mission, which is set for 2024, will see four spacefaring heroes board the Orion spacecraft that will be rocketed off to space by NASA's powerful Space Launch System (SLS).
Once in orbit, two crew members will transfer to the SpaceX human landing system (HLS) and head to the moon.
After approximately a week exploring the surface, they will board the lander for their short trip back to orbit where they will return to Orion and their colleagues before heading back to Earth.
Kathy Lueders, NASA's associate administrator for Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate, said: 'With this award, NASA and our partners will complete the first crewed demonstration mission to the surface of the Moon in the 21st century as the agency takes a step forward for women’s equality and long-term deep space exploration.
'This critical step puts humanity on a path to sustainable lunar exploration and keeps our eyes on missions farther into the solar system, including Mars.'
SpaceX's HLS Starship will include the company's tested Raptor engines, along with pulling inspiration from the Falcon and Dragon vehicles' designs.
The lander will feature a spacious cabin and two airlocks for astronaut moonwalks.
'The Starship architecture is intended to evolve to a fully reusable launch and landing system designed for travel to the Moon, Mars, and other destinations,' NASA shared in the announcement.
No comments