SpaceX’s most important customer—NASA—is getting impatient with the rocket company’s delays in building critical equipment meant for the space agency’s next mission to the moon.
In recent months, NASA officials have raised concerns with their counterparts at SpaceX that the company has missed milestones related to a lunar lander project worth over $4 billion and a $53 million contract on technologies for fueling the spacecraft that will take astronauts to the moon, according to people briefed on the matter. The two parties have also had disputes over budgets, including SpaceX’s use of NASA funds to support work outside of the scope of the contracts, the people said.
This isn’t the first time there have been tensions between SpaceX and NASA, nor are they so serious that they’re likely to derail their relationship, the people said. NASA couldn’t easily ditch SpaceX, even if it wanted to: The agency is deeply dependent on the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, which has become the preeminent provider of commercial launch services in the world. But eventually SpaceX is likely to face more serious competition—from Jeff Bezos’ rocket startup Blue Origin, for example—which could make it easier for NASA to take its business elsewhere.
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