---
title: "Elon Musk Ruthlessly Butchers Jeff Bezos’ Sad Lunar Lander"
description: "Throwing Down the Gauntlet SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is out for blood. Ever since NASA awarded its $2.9 billion Human Landing Systems (HLS) contract to SpaceX — and not Blue Origin — the two space companies run by two of the richest men in the world have been embroiled in a bitter feud that won’t […]"
date: "2021-08-12"
modified: "2021-08-18"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-mocks-jeff-bezos-lunar-lander"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Jeff Bezos"
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "elon musk"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "Starship"
  - "the digest"
---

# Elon Musk Ruthlessly Butchers Jeff Bezos’ Sad Lunar Lander

![SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter to ruthlessly mock Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander, the company's counterpart to the lunar variant of SpaceX's Starship.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/elon-musk-butchers-jeff-bezos-lunar-lander.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elon\_Musk\_(3018710552).jpg" target="\_blank"\>JD Lasica / Futurism\</a\>\</em\>*

## Gauntlet Down

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is out for blood.

Ever since NASA [awarded its $2.9 billion Human Landing Systems](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-chooses-spacex-moon-lander>) (HLS) contract to SpaceX — instead of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin — the two space companies, run by two of the richest men in the world, have been embroiled in a bitter feud that won't be letting up any time soon.

In the latest skirmish, Musk took to Twitter to ruthlessly mock Blue Origin's [Blue Moon lander](<https://futurism.com/blue-origin-full-scale-prototype-moon-lander>), the company's counterpart to the lunar variant of SpaceX's Starship currently in development.

"Somehow, this wasn’t convincing…" Musk [tweeted](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1425636872320077829?s=20>) in derisively, along with a picture of a deflated-looking early mockup of Blue Origin's stalky Moon lander.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1425636872320077829?s=20

## Second Best

Blue Origin has been fighting tooth and nail to be a part of NASA's plans to send astronauts to the surface of the Moon, spending what likely amounts to obscene amounts of money on [lobbying efforts in DC](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/05/12/cantwell-blue-origin-jeff-bezos-nasa/>). CEO and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos went even as far as to tempt the space agency with [a $2 billion discount](<https://futurism.com/bezos-nasa-offer-contract>) last month.

Ever since [NASA picked SpaceX](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-chooses-spacex-moon-lander>) as the sole winner of the contract — a decision [confirmed](<https://www.space.com/gao-hls-artemis-contract-spacex-blue-origin-dynetics>) by the US Government Accountability Office this week after Blue Origin [protested the decision](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/in-stunning-reversal-nasa-halts-2-9-billion-contract-with-spacex>) — the company has been waging an information war online.

In Blue Origin's eyes, Starship is a [clunky, unsafe, and wasteful way](<https://futurism.com/category/space>) to get to the lunar surface. In a [statement](<https://twitter.com/wapodavenport/status/1425592931461832715>) this week, the company also claimed that it'd take more than ten Starship launches to get a single one fueled up to go all the way to the Moon, something Musk [disagreed with, but only slightly](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-starships-fuel-moon>), on Wednesday.

"If lobbying and lawyers could get \[you\] to orbit, Bezos would be on Pluto \[right now\]," Musk wrote in a [follow-up tweet](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1425639813416427526>).

**More on Starship:** *[Elon Musk Says It Could Take Eight Starship Launches to Fuel Up a Single Moon Trip](<https://futurism.com/elon-musk-starships-fuel-moon>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)