Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Challenges NASA Moon Lander Contract Given To Elon Musk’s SpaceX

Jeff Bezos-owned rocket company Blue Origin has lodged a formal complaint against the NASA moon lander contract that was awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, eliciting a mischievous reply from Musk himself on Twitter.

According to Reuters, Blue Origin told the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) that NASA had moved the goalposts for contract bidders at the last minute. Earlier this month, the US space agency awarded SpaceX a US$2.89 billion (~RM11.9 billion) contract to build a moon lander to ferry the next two American astronauts to the moon.

Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics Inc were also bidders for the contract, but ultimately lost out to Musk’s company. In an emailed statement, Blue Origin said NASA’s “decision eliminates opportunities for competition, significantly narrows the supply base, and not only delays, but also endangers America’s return to the moon.”

In response to the complaint, Musk, a billionaire known for his maverick behaviour, tweeted apparently about Blue Origin’s… inability to perform. Adding insult to injury, he later shared an altered picture of Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin’s moon lander, Blue Moon – with the space craft’s name vandalised.

Ultimately, it seems that cost was a decisive factor in NASA’s selection. According to the New York Times, Blue Origin wants the space agency to award the contract to two companies as it previously said it wanted to do. But the US Congress only gave the agency US$850 million (~RM3.5 billion) for the current fiscal year – a mere quarter of what it requested for developing lunar landers.

Jeff Bezos To Step Down As Amazon CEO

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will be stepping down as CEO in the third quarter of this year, according to an email to company employees. Bezos’ announcement came after Amazon reported a record quarterly revenue of over US$100 billion (~RM404.7 billion) – the largest in its history.

The world’s second-richest man will then become Amazon’s executive chairman, while Andy Jassy, the founder and CEO of Amazon Web Services, takes his place at the helm.  “As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions,” Bezos told employees.

“I’ve never had more energy, and this isn’t about retiring. I’m super passionate about the impact I think these organisations can have.” If that statement is not clear enough, Bezos is certainly not leaving the business he started 27 years ago anytime soon.

According to Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky during the latest investors call said, “He will be involved in many large one-way-door issues, as we say, one-way doors meaning the more important decisions things like acquisitions, things like strategies, and going into grocery and other things.”

So, you will likely still hear about Bezos from time to time. Nevertheless, analysts believe that Jassy’s pick spoke volumes on how Amazon views the way forward and its strategic priorities.

“Jassy’s background in steering AWS shows just how top of mind those services are to Amazon’s business strategy. It’ll be interesting to see how that affects their strategy and balancing that priority with a growing ad business and the commerce behemoth,” Tom Johnson, chief transformation officer at global marketing firm Mindshare, told Reuters.