WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th August, 2021) NASA has agreed to suspend all work on its lunar lander contract for the Artemis Program at least until November 1 following a legal challenge from billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company that lost out to competitor SpaceX on a contract for it, US court documents revealed on Thursday.
"NASA Voluntary Say of Performance Expires [on] November 1, 2021,"a document on the case filed in the US Court of Federal Claims following a court order said.
"NASA Voluntary Say of Performance Expires [on] November 1, 2021,"a document on the case filed in the US Court of Federal Claims said.
Blue Origin lost out to SpaceX, founded and run by billionaire Elon Musk, in the contest to build the Lander and return the first US astronauts to the Moon since 1972. NASA chose SpaceX to build the $2.9 billion spacecraft instead.
SpaceX has already received $439 million in funding from NASA to launch the project, according to published reports.
Blue Origin filed the lawsuit after the Government Accountability Office rejected protests filed by the company along with technology company Dynetics over the US government's decision to award SpaceX the contract to build the Artemis lunar landing system.�
