Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has filed a lawsuit against NASA, accusing the government agency of improperly evaluating proposals. This is the latest move Bezos has made after months of criticizing NASA’s decision to pick Blue Origin’s longtime rival SpaceX as the recipient of a $2.9 billion contract to get astronauts back on the moon. Bezos, one of the richest men in the world, penned an open letter to NASA, asking them to rethink the contract, offering to waive $2 billion dollars of costs. He also filed a complaint to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). “I don’t know if the public is paying attention to this, but the space community sure is and the space community is reacting very negatively,” says Laura Forczyk, owner of aerospace space consulting firm Astralytical. “It’s seen as pettiness—as throwing a tantrum.” 

Blue Origin

Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000, and the company has spent years competing with SpaceX and other players in the aerospace industry for lucrative government contracts. The company’s been slowly building up their technical capabilities, with tech like reusable launch vehicle New Shepard, named for Alan Shepard, the first American to rocket into space. It’s designed to take six astronauts past the Kármán line, the internationally recognized boundary to space. Then there’s the New Glenn, named for astronaut John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth. It’s designed to be reused for a minimum of 25 flights, making trips to space cheaper and more accessible. Both projects are in line with NASA’s Artemis program, whose mission is getting Americans back to the moon for longer periods of time, on rockets that can be reused. “NASA doesn’t want just the ability to land humans and come back, they want to make it repeatable and affordable,” Forczyk says, “They want to create some kind of longer term, sustainable human presence on the moon.”

Even though Artemis is a program that has only officially been around for about two years, the idea of returning back to the moon has existed since the first Bush administration, when it was called the Space Exploration initiative, says Forczyk. Under the second Bush administration, it was called Constellation, but the idea didn’t pick up steam until former Vice President Mike Pence gave a speech in 2019 calling for human return to the moon by 2024.

What happened with NASA?

In April 2020, three companies—Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX—were all invited to submit lunar lander designs to NASA as part of the Artemis program. The winner of the contract would get to play a hand in transporting people back to the moon for the first time in decades. According to a GAO document, NASA voiced a “preference for awarding two [contracts], pending availability of funds.” A year later, NASA announced that only SpaceX would get the contract. “This was a surprise because everyone anticipated they would select two instead of just one,” says Forczyk. Both Blue Origin and Dynetics filed complaints to the GAO. SpaceX’s work stopped while the GAO deliberated, but they eventually found no fault in the process, noting that NASA did not have the funding for more than one contract. Elon Musk responded to the news by tweeting “GAO” with the flexed arm emoji. Bezos then penned an open letter to NASA chief Bill Nelson on July 26, 2021, saying that this decision to award SpaceX the only contract was “putting an end to meaningful competition for years to come.” He offered to waive payments of up to $2 billion.

NASA did not respond, and by August 16, Bezos escalated his campaign against NASA, filing a federal court complaint that cited issues in the proposal evaluation process. And on August 19, a Washington Post reporter announced on Twitter that a NASA spokesperson said it had to pause its work on the human landing system in response to a judge’s stay.

Public Reaction

Artemis has been plagued by many delays, and some fear this lawsuit could delay the project further. “It’s unfortunate; he does have quite a bit of wealth, and he could funnel that wealth into paying for this project internally, or he could funnel his wealth into convincing NASA that they need to hire him,” says Forczyk. Meanwhile, an open letter posted on the subreddit r/BlueOrigin titled “We are NOT like this,” allegedly from the perspective of Blue Origin employees, voices embarrassment at the lawsuit. A few Blue Origin staffers, like engineer Lauren Lyons, have left the company. Engineer Nitin Arora actually left Blue Origin for SpaceX. “Looking at the bigger picture, this is just a blip,” says Forczyk. “When we bask in the glory of finally getting back [to the moon], it’ll be something long forgotten.” 

‘IF I RUN THE WORLD…’ I always wonder what it would be like. It’s like one of those thoughts that falls into our minds, like why some movies have an offline script or why some artists sing when they don’t have the right words. But, I mean, whenever you listen to the news on TV or on the radio about a global epidemic or war, do you not feel that you can probably do a better job caring for the earth?

In the current state of affairs, everyone who wants to be president or prime minister of a country has only one goal in mind — to rule the country or the world with money and power. They do not think of the poor and do not think of the proper development of the nation and of the whole world which shows how the world has selfish and selfish rulers.

Today, everywhere in the world something bad is happening, such as the war in Afghanistan or the deforestation. If I were to run the world, I would turn the mountains into chocolate and turn the trees into sweets. All the jokes aside, if I were to manage the world, there are four things in particular I would like to change: Hate between the different religions of the world, Freedom of speech, equality for all and the idea of ​​monetary power coming from human minds. There are a total of 195 countries and about 4,400 religions worldwide. These numbers show how each nation is different or in other words how different our mother world is! People today, however, hate one another’s religions. Example: Muslims and Hindus hate one another because of past relationships or circumstances that led them to do so. If all religions stood together and fought for their rights, working together for good, the Earth would be a much better place to live. If I were to run the world, I would develop a sense of belonging between all religions and the belief that man is the same and that they follow different cultures. This will be much better for our world to grow in unity.

‘Speech’ is a very important word that allows every person in the world to put forward his or her thoughts related to any topic. Many countries have the right to free speech but it is not done literally. Example: In India, a girl wrote something against a political party on Facebook and it was spreading. A few days later he was accused of being a criminal as he just posted his opinion of the party. This shows that the ‘Right to Freedom of Speech’ is not really cared for in India, which is sad. On the other hand, If I were a ruler; I would allow everyone to express their views and suggestions freely. This can also lead people to believe in society. Therefore, Freedom of Speech will be granted to all whether it be a doctor, a lawyer, a businessman etc.

Treating everyone equally plays a very important role in governance. If I were to treat the world, I would treat everyone equally. It is the same for men and women or for the rich and the poor. Women should have the same rights as men. They should be educated and allowed to work in various fields or subjects. As a girl myself, I will feel proud to see women serving the community on a large scale because they are the people who support their families. I can see that all women are educated and given respect in society. The poor should also be given equal access to education and employment. As a ruler, I would also see poor people educated their children and they also had jobs. The world cannot rely solely on the wealthy; poor people also play a very important role in the whole universe. I can make special schemes, build good schools for the poor and also give these schools good teachers. If the poor are educated only the world can move forward.

Today, MONEY plays a vital role in the life of an individual. Everyone has only one goal in life, and that goal is to earn money. Benefit from crime or from that and deceive the lives of others in the community. Money does not rule over the world, and happiness does not rule over the world. I would rather focus on finding happiness than on making money for individuals. For the sake of money; relationships are broken, between nations, families, and friends this leads to loss of happiness among people. I can make people understand the importance of happiness in one’s life and what brings real meaning to their lives.

Lastly, to say that I would do these things if I were to manage this land is easier than actually putting them in place. But, if I was given the opportunity I would try to make this land beautiful for foreigners to live in or experiment with. Jokes aside, if I were to really manage this world, I would see that each person is happy in everything they do and has respect for each other or for that matter each other’s lives. To me, all citizens of the world are rulers and not just the president or the prime minister. I would just like to be the guiding light of the world and not force the thoughts on people who help me as a ruler and not on the people of the world as citizens.