Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Ready To Scoop Up NASA Contract If SpaceX Misses

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Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin is also showing off its lunar lander as SpaceX ramps up testing activity for the Starship rocket in Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX and Blue Origin went head to head for the first contract that SpaceX won, much to Blue's chagrin. Following the SpaceX win and a lengthy court process that saw SpaceX and NASA win, the space agency awarded Blue Origin with a second lunar lander contract as part of its efforts to build redundancy into the Artemis program. Blue Origin showed off its cargo lander demonstrator to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson earlier today as Mr. Nelson visited the company's facilities.

When it comes to rocket design and development, Blue Origin and SpaceX are on the opposite end of the spectrum. SpaceX operates as a 'hardware rich' firm that continuously tests its equipment and makes changes along the way. On the other hand, Blue Origin follows the traditional approach that sees it design the entire vehicle and then aim for a test.

Blue Origin is currently developing the heavy-lift New Glenn heavy-lift rocket, which falls in the same payload range as SpaceX's Falcon Heavy. The New Glenn is also central to Blue Origin's lunar landing ambitions and Amazon subsidiary Kuiper's low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet constellation.

Blue Origin was awarded a NASA contract for its lunar landing vehicle in May this year as part of an announcement that saw the firm share several features of the vehicle and funding details. The Blue Moon lunar lander falls under NASA's Sustainable Lunar Development contract, which is worth $3.4 billion, and at the contract