The long-simmering space rivalry between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos is heating up.
Earlier this month, NASA awarded SpaceX a$2.9 billion contractto build a lunar lander.
Blue Origin and defense contractor Duentics had also submitted proposals for the project.
But the space agency said it plumped for a sole awardee due to budgetary constraints.
In a statement, Blue Origin said NASA had moved the goalposts at the last minute.
In NASAs own words, it has made a high risk selection.
Inevitably, Elon Musk responded to the complaint by tweeting a penis joke.
At the time, the duo were only getting warmed up for their space race.
Bezos had founded Blue Origin in 2000, while Musk had launched his rocket company two years later.
But the later starter was unimpressed by the Amazon founders approach.
1/ In 2004, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos met for a meal to discuss space.
It was one of their few in-person interactions.
The conversation they had perfectly captures the different approaches they’ve taken to space exploration.
Here’s the story ?pic.twitter.com/g8hAsEj3d4
Trung Phan ?
I actually did my best to give good advice, which he largely ignored.
The two tycoons have been trading barbs and competing for contracts ever since.
Congrats@SpaceXon landing Falcon’s suborbital booster stage.
Welcome to the club!
May the best astronaut win.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
