NASA Halts SpaceX’s Lunar Lander Work Pending Contract Challenges by Rival Bidders

U.S. space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has put Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to develop a lunar spacecraft on hold under a contract it recently won, pending the outcome of challenges made by rival bidders to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). NASA’s decision means SpaceX has to stop any work specifically related to the moon program contract until the GAO makes a ruling, expected Aug. 4 at the latest. Earlier this month, NASA awarded SpaceX the lunar contract over billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics.

The high-profile project aims to put humans back on the moon for the first time since 1972. Blue Origin a rival to SpaceX, filed a 50-page protest on Monday filed a protest with the GAO, arguing among other things that NASA gave SpaceX the chance to revise its bid but did not give that chance to Blue Origin.

Blue Origin also argues the decision extends SpaceX’s “monopolistic” control in space exploration. The GAO confirmed that Dynetics has also challenged the NASA contract award to SpaceX. The agency on Friday said: “Pursuant to the GAO protests, NASA instructed SpaceX that progress on the HLS (human landing system) contract has been suspended until GAO resolves all outstanding litigation related to this procurement.”

The contract is worth a whopping $2.9 billion. Bob Smith, Chief Executive of Blue Origin, told The New York Times at the time that NASA’s choice of contractor was flawed. “It’s really atypical for NASA to make these kinds of errors,” Smith said. “They’re generally quite good at acquisition, especially its flagship missions like returning America to the surface of the moon. We felt that these errors needed to be addressed and remedied.”

Musk replied by taunting Jeff Bezos with a clever tweet. “Can’t get it up (to orbit) lol” he wrote, referring to the fact that Blue Origin has not yet achieved orbit with any of its rockets. We do wonder, however, what he may tweet now that his plans have been put on hold. A third firm, Dynetics of Huntsville, Alabama, has also filed a complaint to the GAO, making the odds that NASA revises its contract higher.

It is an interesting time for space exploration indeed. These contenders could forever change history by possibly becoming the first to send astronauts back to the moon from American soil. But will NASA really rethink its decision or is it just doing its due diligence? We can imagine that the agency was very thorough in its first decision. Time will tell what the GAO’s final decision will be.