I saw this recently on Space.com – Blue Origin protest of NASA moon lander choice nixed by government agency – https://www.space.com/blue-origin-moon-lander-gao-protest-nixed. Slightly longer article, but here’s what I considered relevant.
By Chelsea Gohd July 30, 2021
Blue Origin‘s protest against NASA’s decision to not hire the company to build its next human moon lander has been shut down by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Earlier this year, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract to build its Human Landing System (HLS), or the moon lander that will carry astronauts to the lunar surface as part of the agency’s Artemis program. Three companies had competed for the contract: SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics, many expected the agency to choose two companies to both stoke competition and have a backup vehicle. However, they ended up choosing only SpaceX with its Starship vehicle.
In response, Blue Origin and Dynetics filed protests to the GAO, and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos issued an open letter to NASA in a bid to change the agency’s mind.
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