NASA ’s return to the Moon is facing even more hold thanks to Blue Origin ’s late case against the space office . After it was revealed at the starting of this week thatJeff Bezos is sue NASAfor award its lunar lander contract to competitor Elon Musk ’s SpaceX instead of his own Blue Origin , NASA has agreed to temporarily break any work on the lander until November 1 while the US Court of Federal Claims investigates .
A judge has set a auditory modality for October 14 , meaning work by SpaceX on the Human Lander System that will take astronauts to the surface of the Moon as part of the Artemis mission has been stopped . NASA already faces a delay to the proposed 2024 mission date due to event withnew spacesuitsnot being ready ; now the derailment is down to legal reason as the billionaire space raceway takes a prohibitory turn .
“ NASA has voluntarily paused piece of work with SpaceX for the human landing system ( HLS ) Option A contract good Aug. 19 through Nov. 1 . In substitution for this impermanent stay of workplace , all party agreed to an expedited litigation schedule that concludes on Nov. 1 , ” NASA said in a statement toSpaceNews . “ NASA officials are go along to mold with the Department of Justice to review the detail of the lawsuit and look onwards to a well-timed settlement of this thing . ”
in the beginning this calendar month , Bezoslost his appealto the US Government Accountability Office challenge NASA on its decision to choose just one troupe to award a declaration for the lander , the cheaper SpaceX , or else of two companies as it had originally stated it would . When NASA take SpaceX ’s $ 2.89 billion proposition instead of Blue Origin ’s $ 5.99 billion pitch , Bezos accused NASA of giving SpaceX an unfair advantage by allow it to retool its price after a change to NASA ’s budget .
Production of the landing vehicle has been stanch since April when Bezos file hisfirst prescribed complaint .
NASA ’s decision to work with commercial partners was to lose weight budget and prison term and increase sustainability in the production of crucial technology to bring humans back to the Moon . The caustic remark now is that NASA ’s architectural plan to return to the Moon are being delayed with every step .
