Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company, criticized Elon Musk's SpaceX's Starship, which will take NASA humans to the lunar surface on Wednesday, calling it "immensely complex and high risk."
The statements were made in an infographic on Blue Origin's website, amid tensions between the two parties following NASA's $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX.
The issue came after Bezos penned an open letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Futurism wrote. According to another Futurism report, he asked the administrator to reconsider the contract and give him $2 billion to change his mind.
VAN HORN, TEXAS - JULY 20: The New Shepard Blue Origin rocket lifts off the launch pad carrying Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark Bezos, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, and 82-year-old Wally Funk prepares to launch on July 20, 2021, in Van Horn, Texas. Mr. Bezos and the crew are riding in the first human spaceflight for the company.
Blue Origin Says SpaceX's Starship Is a Risky Investment for NASA
CNBC initially spotted the infographic on Wednesday and depicted the concept of utilizing SpaceX's Starship to carry and land NASA humans on the lunar surface, a risky and complicated one. This is a severe charge, but Blue Origin appears to be basing its latest critique on NASA officials' prior assessment of Starship for the lunar landing mission.
"There are an unprecedented number of technologies, developments, and operations that have never been done before for Starship to land on the Moon," read Blue Origin's comments.
Blue Origin slammed NASA's decision as "wrong for America's leadership in space" in three one-page documents, repeating its previous criticism that the space agency "run an inconsistent and unfair competition" - even though the congressional inspector concluded that NASA did not.
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Despite a judgment from a congressional inspector that NASA did nothing illegal per Interesting Engineering, Jeff Bezos' business reiterated previous accusations of the US space agency for conducting "an uneven and unfair competition."
Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship Never Had an Orbital Launch, Blue Origin Claims
Daily Mail added that Bezos' space firm also slammed SpaceX's Texas facility, claiming that it had "never conducted an orbital launch."
This ignores that SpaceX has previously completed over 100 successful orbital launches with their Falcon 9 rockets. Blue Origin's grievance conveniently overlooked something much more obvious: Bezos' business has yet to reach space.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is getting ready to fly Starship into orbit for the first time, following a successful high-altitude takeoff and landing of the spaceship in May. Despite this, Blue Origin maintained its complaint, claiming that SpaceX's 126-foot-high escape hatch necessitates using an elevator for egress.
Still, Blue Origin's 32-foot-high exit hatch merely requires the use of a ladder. Whether or not Bezos' firm gets what it wants, and whether or if Elon Musk responds with more than a flex emoji, SpaceX's offer, at $2.9 billion, is theoretically less expensive than Blue Origin's first bid of $5.99 billion per The Wall Street Journal.
GAO 💪
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2021
Space News said NASA's options were limited since it was only given a fraction of the funding it needed to construct the lunar lander. Due to a lack of money, NASA decided to award the contract to the lowest bidder, which turned out to be SpaceX.
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