Musk Replies to Bezos: Starship is Good Enough for NASA Moon Lander Contract
16th Sep 2021The emotions run high about the NASA moon lander contract that has been already awarded solely to SpaceX. Jeff Bezos can’t stop his attempts to win it back. According to a Blue Origin statement, there can’t be a single contractor where there have to be two. Indeed, that was the initial plan, and the company can’t just let go of it, filing new complaints. Plus, they are dissatisfied with the Starship overall, particularly in comparison with the New Shepherd.
What Does Blue Origin Think of Starship?
Their primary argument is that it wouldn’t be possible for SpaceX alone to ensure a safe landing presupposed by the NASA moon lander contract. Besides, the official statement includes the concerns that the proposal made by SpaceX lacks flight readiness reviews. According to that, sixteen consecutive launches are required, and only three have complete flight readiness reviews (one per each.) Since Starship is reusable and the rapid succession of multiple launches is needed, flight readiness reviews are necessary.
Musk Is Sure That NASA Moon Lander Contract Will Be a Success
However, Elon Musk has something to say to protect his Starship and prove that SpaceX (and SpaceX alone) can meet all the NASA moon lander contract requirements. According to the billionaire’s tweet, it is next to impossible that sixteen launches will be required because of the Starship weight properties and payload capacity. But even if it were so, it wouldn’t cause any trouble. Musk explains that more flights (than Blue Origin forecasts) have been made since 2021 began. In addition, the spacecraft docked with the station more than 20 times. This is more complicated than docking with SpaceX’s own ship.
Recently, Blue Origin has sued NASA for picking a single provider, so the story with the NASA moon lander contract may go on further.
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