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Jeff Bezos at the presentation of the "Blue Moon" lunar lander
Photo: CLODAGH KILCOYNE / REUTERS
In the dispute over who can develop the first commercial lunar module on behalf of the US government, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos suffered a defeat.
After his company Blue Origin was unable to prevail against billionaire Elon Musk's competitor SpaceX in a corresponding tender by the US space agency Nasa, a complaint against this decision has now been rejected.
Nasa did not violate any regulations in the decision, said the Government Accountability Office, an investigative body subordinate to the US Congress, comparable to the Federal Audit Office, on Friday.
The complaints from Blue Origin and Dynetics, which were also unsuccessful in the tender, were rejected.
Elon Musk comments on the decision with a tweet, with the abbreviation of the Government Accoumntabilty Office, GAO, and the emoji of a tense biceps.
Bezos had offered to cover the costs
Previously, the multiple billionaire Bezos had tried to change NASA's mind with a dumping offer.
Blue Origin would, among other things, assume costs of up to two billion dollars for the development and manufacture of the lunar landing device in this and the next two years if the company were allowed to compete against SpaceX again, Bezos wrote in an open letter to Nasa boss Bill Nelson .
At first, NASA did not react to this, at least in public.
more on the subject
Dispute between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk: Who will bring America back to the moon? By Christoph Seidler
The agency decided against Blue Origin and Dynetics when the tender was issued in April and instead commissioned SpaceX to develop the spaceship that will bring American astronauts to the moon.
The contract, valued at nearly three billion dollars, is part of what is known as the Artemis program.
NASA had previously announced that it would distribute the contract between up to two companies.
In the mission planned for 2024 at the earliest, four astronauts are to be brought into lunar orbit in the Orion spacecraft, where two of them will transfer to the SpaceX landing vehicle for the final approach to the moon.
The aim is therefore to develop a completely reusable take-off and landing system that can be used for flights to destinations such as the moon and Mars.
mak / dpa
