Blue Origin is suing NASA in federal court for choosing SpaceX’s moon lander

Blue Origin does not budge: After months of protest against NASA’s decision to choose SpaceX to build the next moon landing module, Jeff Bezos’ space company announced on Monday that it had filed a complaint in federal court against the US space agency.

“Blue Origin has filed a complaint with the Federal Claims Court of the United States,” a spokesperson said in a statement to AFP, calling the decision “an attempt to correct flaws in the procurement process. Nasa “.

“We firmly believe that the problems identified in this acquisition must be remedied to restore impartiality, create competition and ensure America’s safe return to the moon,” he continued.

NASA announced in April that it had awarded Elon Musk’s company the project to build the manned moon landing system (HLS), for $ 2.9 billion.

In April, competitors for this call for tenders, including Blue Origin, lodged a first complaint with the Congressional body responsible for the control of public accounts (GAO), believing that the NASA evaluation process had been unfair. and that the space agency should have named several winners.

The Blue Moon lunar lander in Washington, May 9, 2019 (AFP / SAUL LOEB)

But the gendarme of public contracts rejected this complaint at the end of July, judging that NASA had not violated the regulations in force and stressing that it had reserved “the right to designate several winners, a single winner or no winner” .

Blue Origin reacted to this announcement by asserting that the GAO was unable to respond to the “fundamental problems” of the NASA decision, due to its limited jurisdictional power. And the company had promised to continue the battle.

The US space agency confirmed Monday that it had been notified of the complaint, and that officials were “currently studying the details,” she said in a statement.

NASA aims, with its Artemis program, to send American astronauts back to the Moon in 2024, including the first woman. A schedule considered very ambitious.

“As soon as possible, the agency will provide updated information on the way forward to return to the moon as quickly and as safely as possible,” Nasa added in its statement on Monday.

the role