NASA has agreed to place its SpaceX lunar lander contract on maintain for a second time because it offers with a Blue Origin lawsuit. Work on the Artemis lunar lander could not recommence till November, placing NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the Moon in 2024 in even better jeopardy.

When Blue Origin filed its swimsuit with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims late final week, I raised the priority that the transfer would trigger additional delays within the improvement of NASA’s lunar lander. Turns out that concern was warranted.

“NASA has voluntarily paused work with SpaceX for the human landing system (HLS) Option A contract effective August 19 through November 1,” based on an emailed NASA assertion.

Ouch. That’s a delay of no less than 10 weeks—10 treasured weeks during which NASA and SpaceX have been speculated to hammer away at a lander to ship astronauts to the lunar floor in late 2024.

In trade for this non permanent pause, “all parties agreed to an expedited litigation schedule that concludes on November 1,” NASA mentioned, including that house company officers will proceed to work with the Department of Justice to “review the details of the case and look forward to a timely resolution of this matter.” As Reuters reports, oral arguments for the case will likely be heard on October 14.

Speaking to SpaceInformation, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the matter is “out of our hands” because the case is being dealt with by the Department of Justice. Nelson worries that the lawsuit will “further delay” the Artemis program and that the choose within the case may demand a “very laborious discovery.”

This newest delay within the mission comes three weeks after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied a protest filed by Blue Origin. The Jeff Bezos-led firm had argued that the bidding course of was unfair and that NASA was speculated to award a number of contracts for the lander. The GAO determination allowed NASA and SpaceX to lastly get cracking on the $2.89 billion contract, however that clearly didn’t final lengthy.

NASA’s determination to award a single contract hasn’t gone over properly with Bezos. In addition to submitting a protest with the GAO, Blue Origin has lobbied Congress, provided a $2 billion low cost off its $5.99 billion quote to construct a lunar lander, produced infographics criticizing the SpaceX lunar lander design, and, now, filed a lawsuit in opposition to NASA. The swimsuit is an “attempt to remedy the flaws in the acquisition process found in NASA’s Human Landing System,” a Blue Origin spokesperson mentioned in an electronic mail.

That the lawsuit may delay the Artemis mission might be a deliberate technique. Bezos is on the record saying protests throughout the procurement course of “slows things down.”

SpaceX, as Reuters reports, has intervened within the lawsuit. The Elon Musk-led firm is in search of to make sure that the court docket “has a complete and accurate picture of the facts and circumstances surrounding this protest, including the substantial harm that SpaceX will suffer if the court grants the relief sought” by Blue Origin.

In its assertion, NASA mentioned it stays “committed to Artemis and to maintaining the nation’s global leadership in space exploration.” The house company, together with its companions, “will go to the Moon and stay to enable science investigations, develop new technology, and create high paying jobs for the greater good and in preparation to send astronauts to Mars,” NASA mentioned.

That’s all tremendous and properly, however a crewed Moon touchdown in 2024 has by no means seemed extra unlikely than it does right now. In addition to not having a viable lunar lander (no less than not for the foreseeable future), NASA gained’t have its next-gen spacesuits prepared till April 2025, and it nonetheless must get its Space Launch System (SLS) off the bottom.

More: NASA weakly defends astronaut following Russian state media accusations of ISS sabotage.