Newly Released Court Documents Obliterate Blue Origin’s Lawsuit Against NASA, Futurism The US Court of Federal Claims has released a 47 page document detailing its decision to drop Blue Origin’s legal challenge against NASA — and it’s a scathing rebuttal, full of damning details. In the documents, shared by New York Times space reporter Joey Roulette on Twitter today, the court expanded on its decision. “The Court finds that Blue […]

Breaking: Federal judge rules against Blue Origin in its lawsuit to overturn SpaceX's moon lander contract. pic.twitter.com/sps9cfP39f — Joey Roulette (@joroulette) November 4, 2021 NASA Statement on Artemis Lunar Lander Court Decision “NASA was notified Thursday that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims denied Blue Origin’s bid protest, upholding NASA’s selection of SpaceX to develop and demonstrate a modern human lunar lander. NASA will resume work with SpaceX under the […]

Blue Origin “Gambled” with its Moon lander pricing, NASA says in legal documents, The Verge “Overall, NASA effectively called BS on that argument, saying “Blue Origin made a bet and it lost.” Blue Origin “made an assumption about the Agency’s HLS budget, built its proposal with this figure in mind, and also separately made a calculated bet that if NASA could not afford Blue Origin’s initially-proposed price, the Agency would […]

Draft House Infrastructure Bill Funds NASA and NOAA Space Programs But Not HLS, Space Policy Online “NASA will get an extra $4.4 billion if Congress agrees with draft legislation proposed by the House committee that oversees the agency. While generous, it is far short of what NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is seeking and does not include any money for a second lunar lander for the Artemis program. The committee is […]

Blue Origin Federation, LLC; Dynetics, Inc.-A Leidos Company B-419783; B-419783.2; B-419783.3; B-419783.4 July 30, 2021, GAO “Significantly higher-priced offerors submitting proposals for a demonstration mission for a human landing system for lunar exploration, under a broad agency announcement (BAA) with a preference for two awards, argue that agency was required to advise them via an amendment or discussions (or otherwise cancel the BAA altogether) once the agency learned that it […]

GAO Statement on Blue Origin-Dynetics Decision – Protests Denied “On Friday, July 30, 2021, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied protests filed by Blue Origin Federation, LLC, of South Kent, Washington, and Dynetics, Inc.-A Leidos Company, of Huntsville, Alabama. The protesters challenged their non-selection for awards and the award of optional contract line item numbers to Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), of Hawthorne, California, under Option A to Appendix […]

Letter From Blue Origin Founder Jeff Bezos To NASA Administrator Bill Nelson: Human Landing System “In April (prior to your confirmation as NASA administrator), only one HLS bidder, SpaceX, was offered the opportunity to revise their price and funding profile, leading to their selection. Blue Origin was not offered the same opportunity. That was a mistake, it was unusual, and it was a missed opportunity. But it is not too […]

Blue Origin’s loss to SpaceX on the lunar lander contract may get Congress to do something it hadn’t done before: Give NASA extra money, Washington Post “Along with Dynetics, the defense contractor that also lost out on the contract, Blue Origin protested NASA’s decision, saying the space agency “executed a flawed acquisition.” It also took to Capitol Hill, lobbying its allies in Congress to force NASA to come up with […]

NASA Suspends HLS Contract With SpaceXS, SpacePolicyOnline “NASA has suspended its contract with SpaceX for the landing system to take astronauts down to and back from the lunar surface. Two other competitors for the contract, Blue Origin and Dynetics, have filed protests with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and NASA issued the stop work order until GAO resolves the matter. NASA awarded 10-month contracts to three companies one year ago […]

Keith’s note: Congress has consistently appropriated a small fraction of what is needed to continue with Human Lander work. The proposed FY 2022 budget from the Biden Administration still falls far short of what NASA has said that it needs to implement the Artemis program of record. NASA cannot award contracts with money it does not have – or will not get. According to the GAO, who will handle the […]