Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has unveiled its lunar lander dubbed Blue Moon but Elon Musk, CEO of the rival company SpaceX, does not seem worried.
On Twitter, Musk responded to Bezos's big announcement on Thursday, May 9, by poking fun at the vehicle. The 47-year-old billionaire tweeted an altered photo of Blue Moon.
Oh stop teasing, Jeff pic.twitter.com/wuWPENcSE1 — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 10, 2019
The Billionaire Space Race
Musk and Bezos clashed over their space ambitions in the past. Just last month, when Amazon announced plans to launch more than 3,000 satellites into orbit to deliver high-speed internet to the world's most remote regions, Musk trolled Bezos by calling him a "copycat."
SpaceX is also currently working on a similar project called Starlink, which will launch nearly 12,000 satellites to provide high-speed internet around the world. Musk's company has already received approval from the Federal Communications Commission to launch the satellites in November.
In 2015, Bezos tweeted about Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket that successfully launched and landed safely back. He called it "the rarest of beasts — a used rocket."
Musk chimed in to remind the world's wealthiest man about SpaceX's reusable self-landing rocket, Grasshopper.
Jeff Bezos Takes Swipe At Elon Musk's Mars Plans
Landing on the lunar surface has always been at the center of Bezos's Blue Origin. He believes that conquering the Moon is more realistic than sending humans to Mars.
"Round-trip on the order of years," reads one slide, which also featured an image of the Red Planet. "No real-time communication."
Musk responded on Twitter, welcoming the efforts made by Blue Origin.
"Competition is good," he wrote. "Results in a better outcome for all."
Blue Origin On The Moon
Blue Origin was founded nearly two decades ago, but it has mostly been silent about the development of its rockets and capsules.
Bezos reportedly invests more than $1 billion a year in his space company through sales of his shares on Amazon.
The Blue Moon lander can carry up to 3.6 metric tons of cargo to the lunar surface, according to the billionaire. Moreover, he said that the company can meet the 2024 goal of NASA to send American astronauts back to the Moon.
The company hopes to send the first humans onboard the New Shepard rocket next year. They will begin selling tickets to space tourists thereafter.
