US space agency NASA has told Elon Musk’s SpaceX to halt work under a contract it won to develop a lunar spacecraft, pending the outcome of challenges by rival bidders at the US Government Accountability Office, the agency said on Friday.

NASA’s decision means SpaceX has to stop any work specifically related to the Moon programme contract until the GAO makes a ruling, expected August 4 at the latest.

A SpaceX spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, NASA awarded SpaceX the lunar contract over billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics.

The high-profile project aims to put humans back on the Moon for the first time since 1972.

Blue Origin on Monday filed a protest with the GAO, arguing among other things that NASA gave SpaceX the chance to revise its bid but did not give that chance to Blue Origin.

Blue Origin also argues the decision extends SpaceX’s “monopolistic” control in space exploration.

The GAO confirmed that Dynetics has also challenged the NASA contract award to SpaceX.

“Pursuant to the GAO protests, NASA instructed SpaceX that progress on the HLS (human landing system) contract has been suspended until GAO resolves all outstanding litigation related to this procurement,” the agency said on Friday.

© Thomson Reuters 2021


We dive into all things Apple — iPad Pro, iMac, Apple TV 4K, and AirTag — this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on Twitter, Facebook, and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Moto G40 Fusion to Go on Sale in India Today via Flipkart: Price, Specifications

Related Stories

You May Also Like

Researchers Develop New Method to Convert Waste Carbon Atoms to Plastic Products Without Harming Environment

In a significant step towards solving the problem of waste management, researchers…

ISRO Renames GSLV Mark-3 as LVM-3 to Identify Its Task of Placing Satellites Into Various Orbits

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has renamed the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch…

Mount Everest ‘Like You’ve Never Seen It Before’: NASA Shares Unique Image Taken From ISS

It’s a famous view, but slightly different from what we are accustomed…

ISRO to Launch PSLV-C54 With Oceansat-3, 8 Nano Satellites on November 26

The Indian Space Research Organisation will launch PSLV-C54/ EOS-06 mission with Oceansat-3…