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posted by chromas on Saturday July 31 2021, @12:30AM   Printer-friendly

Watchdog denies Blue Origin's challenge to NASA's lunar lander program

Blue Origin's protest against NASA's decision to pick just one company to build the country's first human lunar lander in decades was denied by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the watchdog agency said Friday, also denying a similar protest from Dynetics. The decision keeps Blue Origin's rival, Elon Musk's SpaceX, the sole winner of NASA's lucrative Moon lander program and hands a loss to Jeff Bezos, whose space company waged a months-long fight to win the same funding.

In a formal protest filed in April, Bezos' Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics had accused NASA of running afoul of contracting law when the agency shelved their proposals and gave Musk's SpaceX a lone $3 billion contract to land a crew of humans on the Moon by 2024. NASA had said it could award up to two companies for the contract, but never committed to that number, and went with SpaceX's Starship proposal. The GAO found that NASA "reserved the right to make multiple awards, a single award, or no award at all."

Musk responded to the news by tweeting "GAO" with a flexing bicep emoji.

Also at CNBC and Wccftech.


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Saturday July 31 2021, @01:41AM (1 child)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane (4757) on Saturday July 31 2021, @01:41AM (#1161586)

    Those Scientologists will stop at nothing to find Xenu.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01 2021, @01:29AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01 2021, @01:29AM (#1161828)

      Perhaps, but they sure make cool looking designs.

      Their ship just looks like something for landing in a strange place.

      Too bad they didn't get the moon part and X the transport to LEO.

  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @01:51AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @01:51AM (#1161588)

    But SpaceX is a genuine real deal. Can't compare it to Bezos and what's his name's leisure travel into lower atmosphere for millionaire's fun times.

    Fuck you, Bezos. You are just a sock-peddling merchant.

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @03:02PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @03:02PM (#1161708)

      I had to look up "sock-peddling merchant." I say "cargo cult leader who drinks his own Kool-aid."

      By "what's his name" I assume you mean Sir Richard Branson. He knows his hot rod sports-plane is a very expensive hobby rocket and he's perfectly fine with that because its a rocket plane and that's awesome. He doesn't need to pretend it is anything else to enjoy it, and that alone puts him head-and-shoulders above Bezos. That Branson has his own genuine real deal rocket (Virgin Orbit) that has actually launched satellites into orbit doesn't enter into it.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 31 2021, @02:16AM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 31 2021, @02:16AM (#1161590) Journal

    The GAO is probably the most impartial agency in the US government. Their raison d'ĂȘtre is to uncover waste, fraud, abuse, and any form of misappropriation of government funds. They don't play favorites. They will nail a D as readily as an R, or any sort of Independent. They've buried high officers from all the services, and they've exposed elected and appointed officials at all levels of government.

    GAO has spoken - now everyone take a hike.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @03:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @03:08PM (#1161712)

      I wish that was the end of it but this whole dog-and-pony show was for Congress' benefit. The rot runs deep and this only scratches the surface, but it is a step in the right direction.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01 2021, @01:57PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01 2021, @01:57PM (#1161956)

      Have the GAO found the missing twenty million yet?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01 2021, @02:00PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 01 2021, @02:00PM (#1161958)

        For fuck's sake.

        twenty *trillion*

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @03:41AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @03:41AM (#1161612)

    ...knowing that the absolute genius that is Elon Musk, is paving our way into space. What with all the toy flame throwers and a tesla car being launched into space. We as a species certainly have come a long way in our intellectual and emotional evolution... Nice to know we are on par with dogs peeing on fire hydrants when it comes to the space race and advancing beyond a petrol based economy...

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Saturday July 31 2021, @03:50AM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday July 31 2021, @03:50AM (#1161615) Journal

      Soon, we make contact.

      https://soylentnews.org/submit.pl?op=viewsub&subid=50222 [soylentnews.org]

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @03:57AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @03:57AM (#1161617)

      Jelly much?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @04:05AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 31 2021, @04:05AM (#1161619)

      dog pees on you fool

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday July 31 2021, @04:36AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 31 2021, @04:36AM (#1161624) Journal

      We as a species certainly have come a long way in our intellectual and emotional evolution...

      I sense you're trying to be sarcastic. But yea, turns out that a crazy billionaire with the best orbital launch infrastructure in the world is a better direction for "emotional evolution" than whoever would try to use that phrase in regular conversation.

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