NOC - SpaceX Continues to Dominate Moon Race
Nineteen months ago, SpaceX scored a coup.
Beating out a whole host of rival bidders -- defense contracting giants Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) , Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) , and Leidos (NYSE: LDOS) among them -- SpaceX snagged a gigantic $2.9 billion contract to build the a new lunar lander for NASA... and put American astronauts back on the moon for the first time in 50 years.
Now, not everyone applauded this news. Blue Origin in particular, which had partnered with Lockheed and Northrop to bid on the moon lander contract, went so far as to sue over NASA's decision. Perhaps in an effort to placate these parties, NASA soon announced a follow-up competition at which the losers in round 1 -- all of the companies named above, and perhaps new entrants such as Boeing (NYSE: BA) -- will get a chance to bid to build a different kind of lunar lander for the space agency. All of these companies will have to wait in line, however, because NASA just handed SpaceX a new contract for a second lunar lander.
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SpaceX Continues to Dominate Moon Race