NASA awarded Elon Musk's SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build the lunar lander, a huge victory that surprised many in the space industry. Blue Origin had vigorously pursued the contract, building what it called a "national team" including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper, to compete for it.

It won the largest award in the initial round and was seen by many as the team to beat for what NASA calls the Human Landing System. The selection of SpaceX as the only contract recipient was a huge blow to Blue Origin and an embarrassment for Bezos, who was personally involved in the project and has talked openly about his lifelong fascination with the moon. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)