NASA had submitted a tender to major aerospace companies for the production of lunar landing gear to be used in the Artemis Program, which it plans to realize in 2024. A contract worth $2.9 billion was signed after Elon Musk’s company SpaceX won the tender.
Jeff Bezos, the owner of another space company Blue Origin, who submitted a bid in the tender, filed a lawsuit against NASA on the grounds that it was considering the illegal offer. Blue Origin lost its lawsuit over the SpaceX and NASA agreement.
Court approved the deal
In NASA’s contract with SpaceX, the fact that the Starship spacecraft that SpaceX will produce is almost half the price of the next offer and its potential performance compared to other offers was remarkable. Jeff Bezoss took this agreement to court on the grounds that he found it illegal. The case, which has been going on for about 6 months, has been concluded today. The US Federal Court of Claims ruled that the agreement between NASA and SpaceX, signed in April, was not inappropriate, as Jeff Bezos suggested.
These disruptions in this process led to the suspension of production activities. After the decision, NASA announced that they will continue their work with SpaceX to develop a modern manned lunar lander “as soon as possible”. SpaceX’s new generation spacecraft Starship has started to perform test flights, and the first orbital trials are planned for the next month.
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