Amazon Hits Back at SpaceX With Rule-Breaking Allegations

Jeff Bezos‘ Amazon and Blue Origin have once again hit back at Elon Musk and SpaceX by now claiming that the latter consistently breaks rules regarding its missions and testing.

In a new statement to the FCC as part of the two companies’ ongoing legal battle, Amazon said that SpaceX treats rules as if they were just for other people: “Whether it is launching satellites with unlicensed antennas, launching rockets without approval, building an unapproved launch tower, or re-opening a factory in violation of a shelter-in-place order, the conduct of SpaceX and other Musk-led companies makes their view plain: rules are for other people, and those who insist upon or even simply request compliance are deserving of derision and ad hominem attacks.”

Citing multiple occasions in which SpaceX and Musk broke protocol, Amazon continued to point out issues with SpaceX’s responses. “Try to hold a Musk-led company to flight rules? You’re ‘fundamentally broken’,” the company writes. “Try to hold a Musk-led company to health and safety rules? You’re ‘unelected & ignorant.’ Try to hold a Musk-led company to US securities laws? You’ll be called many names, some too crude to repeat.”

The sparring between the two billionaires and their space exploration companies first began during a bid for NASA‘s upcoming mission to the Moon. After SpaceX won the contract, Blue Origin filed an antitrust lawsuit against Musk’s company, halting the agency’s work. Since then, both men have struck out at each other, with Musk remarking that Bezos “retired to pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX” while Amazon petitioned the FCC to block the competitor’s plans for a second-generation Starlink system.

In other related news, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has managed to collect rock samples on the planet for the first time.