Blue Origin Case Could Postpone NASA’s Moon Mission

NASA planned to send a man to the Moon in 2024 for the first time in 52 years. It has submitted the tenders it has opened for the production of landing gear to the Moon to be used in this project, which will be realized within the scope of the Artemis Program, to major aviation and space companies, and signed an agreement with SpaceX. However, Jeff Bezos, the owner of Blue Origin, another giant company that submitted a bid in the tender, filed a lawsuit against NASA on the grounds that it evaluated the illegal and inappropriate offer. Bezos claims that NASA is ignoring basic flight safety requirements. In the lawsuit, the giant company argues that NASA’s contract with SpaceX violates the “fundamental principles” of government-contract bidding law.

NASA agreed to stop work on the project pending a court order, as SpaceX could not continue to develop the mission’s terrain vehicle until the case was resolved.

Bill Nelson explains: Lawsuit could delay NASA’s Moon mission

According to Insider, NASA administrator Bill Nelson hinted at a press conference on Tuesday that the Moon trip, which was planned to take place in 2024 for the first time after 1972, could be delayed due to the ongoing litigation process. The lawsuit filed by the company against NASA had previously been delayed twice for various reasons. In fact, the operation of the process and these disruptions made us think that the planned moon trip might be delayed. Thanks to the statement made by a senior NASA official, it became clear that the project would be postponed to a later date.

Also last month, a report by the NASA Office of the Inspector General, released independently of the case, stated that there were delays in the development of the next generation of spacesuits for astronauts, and therefore it was “not possible” for NASA to meet its 2024 goal.