Bezos Space Firm Loses Protest Over Launch Pad Proposal

[Buster's Uncle]

Bezos Space Firm Loses Protest Over Launch Pad Proposal
By Jonathan D. Salant and Kathleen Miller  Dec 12, 2013 7:15 PM ET



Billionaire Jeff Bezos’s space company lost its challenge of how NASA handled its search for contractors seeking rights to use the historic Kennedy Space Center launch pad.

Blue Origin LLC, founded by Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)’s chief executive officer, had protested to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The GAO, which arbitrates contract disputes, announced its ruling today on its website.

The decision paves the way for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to evaluate bidders’ proposals and award the contract, which had been delayed by the challenge from Kent, Washington-based Blue Origin.

“Given today’s GAO ruling, NASA is looking forward in the near future to selecting an industry partner for negotiations to lease and operate” the launch pad, said Allard Beutel, an agency spokesman. “Permitting use of this valuable national asset by commercial entities will ensure its continued viability and will allow for its continued use in support of U.S. space activities.”

Billionaire Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX and based in Hawthorne, California, also covets the Florida launch pad. The site was mothballed after the U.S. retired its shuttle fleet in 2011.

SpaceX initially had sought an exclusive lease and later said it was open to sharing the site. Blue Origin wanted to share the site from the start.

Blue Origin filed its protest on Sept. 3 after NASA began seeking proposals to lease the launch pad.


Shared Pad

The company suggested NASA’s solicitation preferred multiple users. It objected to Administrator Charles Bolden’s comments that it said showed the agency favored picking a contractor with an exclusive hold versus a shared approach.

The GAO disagreed and said NASA’s announcement requesting proposals didn’t prefer one approach over the other.

The space agency’s solicitation “merely requires different information depending upon which approach is being offered,” said Ralph O. White, GAO’s managing associate general counsel for procurement law.

Brooke Crawford, an account director for Seabrook, Texas-based Griffin Communications Group, which coordinates Blue Origin’s media relations, declined to comment.

Emily Shanklin, a spokeswoman for SpaceX, declined to comment.


Space Race

Bezos, the new owner of the Washington Post newspaper, is No. 14 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world’s wealthiest people, with an estimated net worth of $34.5 billion through today.

Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) and co-founder of PayPal Inc., is No. 162, with an estimated net worth of $7.8 billion.

SpaceX last year became the first company to dock a commercial craft at the International Space Station, and it has begun ferrying cargo.

Since 2008, it has received NASA contracts valued at about $1.61 billion to transport cargo and to work toward commercial transport of crew, according to agency figures provided in September.

Separately, SpaceX has gotten about $930 million in non-contract funding from NASA for its work on vehicles capable of carrying cargo and astronauts, according to the agency.

Blue Origin has received $25.7 million in funding from NASA to design its own spacecraft to carry astronauts.


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-12/bezos-space-company-loses-protest-over-nasa-launch-pad-proposal.html?cmpid=yhoo

[Buster's Uncle]

SpaceX to Lease Historic NASA Launch Pad
SPACE.com
By Robert Z. Pearlman  11 hours ago



Aerial view of Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida



NASA has selected Space Exploration Technologies, better known as SpaceX, to lease a historic launch pad for the company's commercial rockets.

The space agency announced Friday (Dec. 13) that it is beginning negotiations with SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., to take over exclusive use of Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA used the pad for decades to send astronauts to the moon and later launch space shuttles into Earth orbit.

"Permitting the use and operation of this valuable national asset by a private-sector, commercial space partner will ensure its continued viability and allow for its continued use in support of U.S. space activities," NASA said in its statement announcing the selection.

SpaceX, led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, was one of two private spaceflight companies vying for the use of Launch Pad 39A. Blue Origin, founded by Amazon.com chief Jeff Bezos, had proposed using the launch complex as a multi-user facility supporting other rocket companies, including United Launch Alliance (ULA).

SpaceX proposed to use to use Pad 39A for its own future launches. The company is currently contracted by NASA to launch its unmanned Dragon capsules to resupply the International Space Station and is currently vying for the agency's business to fly astronauts to and from the space station beginning in 2017.

SpaceX has previously said it was considering use of Pad 39A for launching larger models of its Falcon rocket.



First and last launches, for now: The Apollo 4 Saturn V liftoff (left) and STS-135 space shuttle launch


NASA chose SpaceX after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied a protest filed against the agency by Blue Origin in September. Blue Origin had raised concerns about the competitive process NASA was employing in its attempt to lease use of Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A).

Blue Origin had argued that the language in the agency's Announcement for Proposals (AFP) favored a single-user approach over a multi-user pad. The GAO disagreed.

While the protest was still underway, NASA was prohibited from choosing a commercial partner for use of 39A from among the proposals it had received. However, while the GAO considered its decision, NASA continued evaluating the proposals in order to be prepared to make a selection when permitted to do so.

After the GAO rendered its decision Thursday in NASA's favor, the agency completed its selection process.

NASA notified SpaceX and Blue Origin of the decision on Friday.

NASA said it will begin working with SpaceX to negotiate the terms of its lease for Pad 39A. During those talks, the space agency said it will not be able to discuss details of the pending lease agreement.

Pad 39A was one of two large launch complexes built in the 1960s to support the Apollo program's Saturn V rocket launches to the moon and Saturn IB flights to the Skylab space station. Both pads were later modified for launching space shuttles to deploy and service satellites and build the International Space Station.

Pad 39A's twin, Pad 39B, was stripped of its iconic launch support towers in 2011 to enable its use for possible future commercial and government launch vehicles. Launch Pad 39A, which supported 92 launches since November 1967 — 12 Saturn V rockets and 80 shuttles — was initially set to support NASA's new heavy-lift rocket, referred to as the Space Launch System (SLS).

Budget constraints however, caused NASA to consolidate its future launch pad needs at Pad 39B, leaving Pad 39A without a purpose. And without the funding to modify or maintain it, NASA officials said earlier this year that the agency would have no choice but to abandon Pad 39A in place unless a commercial user could be identified.

As the selected lessee, SpaceX will be responsible for the financial management and technical operation of Pad 39A. In addition, the company will be required to maintain and provide NASA access to components on the pad for their historic preservation, including the gaseous oxygen vent arm at the top of the pad's fixed service structure and the emergency egress bunker, or "rubber room," located under the pad's surface.

Earlier this year, the space agency lowered and removed the pad's orbiter access arm. The arm, which is capped by the "white room" through which the astronauts entered the space shuttle, was placed into storage for future display.


http://news.yahoo.com/spacex-lease-historic-nasa-launch-pad-112736077.html