Bezos Has Eyes on the Moon
2 Min Read
Jeff Bezos offers NASA $2 billion for the moon mission contract after Elon Musk was awarded it in April.
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Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos
Blue Origin and Amazon's Jeff Bezos offers NASA $2 billion if the space agency chooses Blue Origin to build a spacecraft to put humans back on the moon instead of giving the opportunity to his competitor, Elon Musk's Space X.
Elon Musk's Space X was given the opportunity to land astronauts back on the moon in April. NASA released a statement saying, "NASA is getting ready to send astronauts to explore more of the Moon as part of the Artemis program, and the agency has selected SpaceX to continue development of the first commercial human lander that will safely carry the next two American astronauts to the lunar surface."
Last week, Bezos sent an open letter to NASA's administrator, Bill Nelson, in which he criticized the agency's decision of choosing Space X to land humans on the lunar surface. He urged NASA to reconsider and pledge that his space company would waive all NASA payments - up to $2 billion in the current and next two government fiscal years.
"This offer is not a deferral, but is an outright and permanent waiver of those payments. This offer provides time for government appropriation actions to catch up," said Bezos in the open letter.
The contract NASA signed with Musk is worth $2.89 billion, and it stipulates that Space X put Americans on the moon as early as 2024. This followed 10-month-long study contracts NASA gave to SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Dynetics to determine who would be the best fitting for the mission.
Previously, NASA was expected to give the mission to two companies; however, only Musks' Space X won the contest and the $2.89 billion that comes with it.
