MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty/Axel Springer
- Blue Origin looks "desperate" for its SpaceX-related lawsuit, former VP of Musk's space firm said.
- It comes after Blue Origin lost a lawsuit against NASA over SpaceX winning a $2.9 billion contract.
- Hans Koenigsmann told Insider he doesn't think there's anything SpaceX needs to beat Blue Origin at.
Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, looks "desperate" for taking legal action with NASA over SpaceX, the former vice president of the space company told Insider.
Blue Origin lost a lawsuit on Thursday over NASA's decision to award rival company SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to land humans on the moon with its Starship spaceship. The ruling has put an end to a months-long legal battle between the two space firms.
Blue Origin initially filed a protest in April over the contract, then it offered to cover up to $2 billion for the first two years of production of a moon lander. It also posted infographics on its website describing SpaceX's Starship as "immensely complex and high risk." Finally, the company sued NASA.
"I think it looks pretty desperate if you ask me," said Hans Koenigsmann, who worked with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for 19 years. "Suing is always the last resort."
Koenigsmann said he watched the last Blue Origin launch in October. "I do hope these things go well – I want them to get those four people up and down safely."
"They could use the elevator too, but I mean, whatever," he joked.
Koenigsmann said it's good for SpaceX to have competition because it keeps costs low and ensures that investment in safety and tests. "We want to succeed and not fail," he said.
Despite the fierce competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin, there are differences with progression between the two companies.
Blue Origin's vision is to transform space travel and move millions of people into space for the benefit of Earth, according to a statement on its website.
Bezos' company made its second crewed trip to the edge of space in October three months after its first human flight with the billionaire onboard. Both trips lasted around 11 minutes.
Meanwhile, SpaceX, which also wants to revolutionize space travel to transport humans to other planets, has launched 130 rockets in total since it was founded in 2002, per the company's website. This includes its first all-civilian trip, Inspiration4, and NASA missions to the International Space Station.
In addition, SpaceX's satellite internet service, Starlink, now has around 1,700 satellites in orbit and nearly 100,000 users. Whereas, Amazon's Project Kuiper is yet to launch any satellites but said on Monday that it'll send the first two prototype satellites into space by late 2022.
In an open letter to Blue Origin published September 30, 21 current and former employees accused the company of sacrificing safety in an effort to win the billionaire space race.
Blue Origin "comes up" in SpaceX meetings, Koenigsmann said, but added, "I don't think there's anything we need to beat them at."
Blue Origin isn't the only one of Bezos' companies to complain about SpaceX.
In August, Amazon's Project Kuiper filed a protest letter against SpaceX's plans for a network of second-generation Starlink internet satellites.
"Filing legal actions against SpaceX is *actually* his full-time job," Musk tweeted about Bezos after SpaceX issued a response to Kuiper's protest letter.