Musk and SpaceX best Bezos and Blue Origin in battle for military space launches – CNET [CNET]

After years of battling for the right to launch military payloads for the US government, Elon Musk’s SpaceX was officially awarded a $316 million contract from the Space Force for an undetermined number of launches between 2022 and 2027. 

The Space and Missiles System Center and National Reconnaissance Office announced Friday that both SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin) have been awarded phase two contracts for national security space launch services (NSSL), with ULA receiving $337 million to provide 60 percent of launches over the period and SpaceX launching the remaining 40 percent of missions.

SpaceX and ULA beat out Northrop Grumman and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which also submitted bids for the contracts. Blue Origin doesn’t totally lose out, however, as it will be supplying the engines for ULA rockets in the future. 

The contract is a major vindication for SpaceX and Musk, who have sued the military at least twice after being shut out of previous rocket development and launch contracts. SpaceX eventually dropped a lawsuit in 2015 after the Air Force awarded a launch contract to ULA through a bidding process Musk’s company claimed unfairly favored the legacy launch provider. 

Then last year, it was revealed that SpaceX had sued again over the phase one NSSL contracts, which awarded money to help companies develop the rockets that they would use to apply for the phase two contracts to actually perform launches. 

Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and ULA were all given phase one money, while SpaceX was left out — reportedly because some of the funds would be used to further development of the company’s next-generation Starship, prompting the government to deem the SpaceX proposal to be the “highest risk,” according to court documents. 

While SpaceX has continued to argue for a share of that development funding, it submitted a proposal for the phase two launch contract and now has beat out Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman despite missing out on the extra cash that those companies had been granted. 

In a statement, Blue Origin said it was “disappointed in the decision” of the Space Force to opt for SpaceX Falcon rockets over its nascent New Glenn system. Bezos’ company added that it’s “very proud that our BE-4 engine will power United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan launch vehicle in support of the Space Force’s NSSL program.”

Similarly, Northrop Grumman said: “We are disappointed by this decision. We are confident we submitted a strong proposal that reflected our extensive space launch experience.”