CNBC by Michael Sheetz 8/4/2021
Bezos’ Blue Origin calls Musk’s Starship ‘immensely complex & high risk’ for NASA moon missions
Key Points
• Jeff Bezos’ space company remains on the offensive in criticizing NASA’s decision to award Elon Musk’s SpaceX with the only astronaut lunar lander contract.
• Blue Origin’s criticisms of SpaceX’s Starship come despite the government last week denying the company’s protest of the NASA award.
• “There are an unprecedented number of technologies, developments, and operations that have never been done before for Starship to land on the Moon,” Blue Origin wrote.
Jeff Bezos’ space company remains on the offensive in criticizing NASA’s decision to award Elon Musk’s SpaceX with the sole contract to build a vehicle to land astronauts on the moon, despite the government last week denying Blue Origin’s protest.
In an infographic published on Blue Origin’s website and seen on Wednesday, the company called SpaceX using Starship to transport NASA astronauts to the lunar surface an “immensely complex & high risk” approach. Blue Origin is referring to a criticism that NASA officials made in evaluating Starship for the lunar lander program.
“There are an unprecedented number of technologies, developments, and operations that have never been done before for Starship to land on the Moon,” Blue Origin wrote.
Last Friday, the U.S. Government Accountability Office denied Blue Origin’s protest of NASA awarding SpaceX with a $2.9 billion contract under the Human Landing System program. In three one-page documents, Blue Origin decried NASA’s decision as “wrong for America’s leadership in space” and repeated its prior critique that the space agency “ran an inconsistent and unfair competition” — even though the congressional watchdog ruled that NASA did not.
“NASA ran a flawed acquisition and ignored the significant risks of a one provider model,” Blue Origin wrote.
More:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/04/bezos-blue-origin-musks-spacex-starship-complex-high-risk.html
