Bezos’ Blue Origin Rebuffed in Its Protest of Moon Lander Contract

A federal agency upheld the decision to make Elon Musk’s SpaceX the sole winner of a contract to develop a lander for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s return to the moon, a setback to Jeff Bezos’ space enterprise.

The decision Friday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office was in response to protests that an affiliate of Mr. Bezos’ Blue Origin LLC and Dynetics, a unit of Leidos Holdings Inc., filed after NASA in April awarded a $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX for the lander. Representatives from Blue Origin and Leidos didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Bezos’ Blue Origin is pursuing a broad agenda for space, and winning part of the lander contract was important for the company’s ambitions. Blue Origin’s partners for its lander included Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp.

In a letter sent Monday, Mr. Bezos made a personal appeal to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson regarding the contract, offering to waive up to $2 billion in payments over roughly the next two years and fund another mission of the lander to low-Earth orbit.

Mr. Nelson declined to comment on the letter during a briefing Thursday. He had said previously at a congressional hearing that NASA would seek additional funding to support future bids for its lunar landing system. A NASA spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment Friday.