Inside Jeff Bezo’s “feud” with a politician trying to stop the billionaire’s space plans

AMAZON is not released for launch.

Bernie Sanders hopes to stifle Jeff Bezos’ efforts to secure a government contract for his private space company Blue Origin.

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Nasa’s crowded launch schedule is aided by technology developed in partnership with private space companies.

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s interstellar company, has landed a $3 billion deal to build a lunar module for Nasa’s next manned voyage to the Moon after fending off other companies vying for the contract.

Last summer, Bezos and Blue Origin took Nasa to court to argue they were wrongly sidelined, which eventually led to the competition reopening.

Today, a bill going through Congressional pipes would grant Bezos and Blue Origin $10 billion to build lunar landers — Sanders aims to cut supplies to Bezos.

Politico quoted Sanders as saying the move was “a bailout for Jeff Bezos so his company Blue Origin can launch a rocket to the moon.”

Sanders has used the privatization of space travel as stub material, pushing the narrative that resources are better spent on earth-based endeavors than taking people off the planet.

“If he wants to go to the moon, he should use his own money, not the US taxpayers,” Sanders said in the same Politico article.

All in all, it’s likely that we’ll soon see humans land on the moon for the first time since the 1970s – whether with SpaceX or Blue Origin has yet to be decided.

The lunar voyage is one of many exciting launches booked for the next decade – several missions to Venus are on the agenda.

Congress must juggle competing interests as private and public resources intersect in our pursuit of the cosmos.

Sanders has railed against wealth hoarding and reckless government spending throughout his long career.

Efforts to keep taxpayers’ money from going to a billionaire are very on-brand for the Vermont senator.