Jeff Bezos Vs. Elon Musk: Blue Origin's NASA Contract Win Fires Up The Billionaire Space Rivalry

Elon Musk’s SpaceX will now have tough competition as Jeff Bezos’s space company, Blue Origin, has won a NASA contract, securing the opportunity to build a lunar lander. 

What Happened: Blue Origin has been chosen by NASA to construct a spacecraft tasked with ferrying astronauts to and from the moon’s surface. As part of the agency’s lunar exploration initiative, known as the Artemis program, Blue Origin will be responsible for the lunar lander’s design, testing and development. 

The contract between NASA and Blue Origin is valued at approximately $3.4 billion. 

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Following the announcement, Bezos, took to Twitter to express his honor to be part of the journey with NASA. 

Under the terms of the contract, Blue Origin is obligated to conduct an initial uncrewed mission to the moon as a demonstration, followed by a crewed voyage that will transport astronauts to the lunar surface. The crewed mission is currently scheduled for the year 2029, the report noted. 

Why It’s Important: The announcement arrives amidst a competitive landscape in the space industry, where private companies like Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’s Blue Origin strive for increased involvement in space initiatives and vie for lucrative government contracts.

 Blue Origin, through the Sustaining Lunar Development program, secured the contract that NASA offered as a second chance contest. This opportunity arose after SpaceX, led by Musk, emerged as the sole victor in the previous crew lander contract awarded in 2021, valued at $2.89 billion.

However, even with both SpaceX and Blue Origin now holding contracts, the competition is far from concluded. 

According to the agency, having two options for lunar landings through SpaceX and Blue Origin would result in increased competition, reduced costs for taxpayers, support for a regular schedule of lunar landings, further investment in the lunar economy and assist NASA in accomplishing its objectives on and around the moon.

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