Claims

Factual · Other

“Honored to be on this journey with @NASA to land astronauts on the Moon — this time to stay.”

Jeff Bezos, on X · 19 May 2023 · Post by @JeffBezos on X, 2023-05-19 (X)

Jeff Bezos is part of a joint effort with NASA to land astronauts on the Moon.

Resolved true The record shows it happened or was so.

Said for an organisation they lead or work for; it counts on both records.

What would count as true or false

Judged as of 2023-05-19. True: by that date there was a dated, official joint arrangement linking Bezos to NASA's crewed lunar landing effort. This could be NASA selecting Blue Origin, the company Bezos founded and owns, for a crewed Artemis lunar lander contract (for example a Human Landing System award). Bezos's tie to that company is enough for him to be 'part of' the effort; the claim does not require his personal operational role. Mostly true: the joint effort existed, but a minor detail is off (for example the award was announced but the contract had not yet been formally signed). Mixed: Blue Origin had a NASA lunar contract, but only for uncrewed or cargo work and not for landing astronauts. Mostly false: Blue Origin was only bidding or had lost, with no award or agreement with NASA to land astronauts as of the date. False: records show there was no NASA arrangement involving Blue Origin or Bezos for crewed lunar landing at that date.

Evidence

1. NASA Selects Blue Origin as Second Artemis Lunar Lander Provider - NASA NASA · 19 May 2023

   “To develop a human landing system for the agency’s Artemis V mission to the Moon, NASA has selected Blue Origin of Kent, Washington.”

2. NASA awards Blue Origin $3.4 billion Artemis moon lander contract Spaceflight Now · 19 May 2023

   “Blue Origin, the rocket company owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos, has won a $3.4 billion NASA contract to build an Artemis lunar lander that will provide a downstream alternative to the Starship variant already being developed by SpaceX, the agency announced Friday.”

3. NASA awards Blue Origin $3.4 billion Artemis moon lander contract Spaceflight Now · 19 May 2023

   “Honored to be on this journey with @nasa to land astronauts on the Moon — this time to stay,” Bezos said in an Instagram post.”

4. NASA picks Bezos' Blue Origin to build lunar landers for moonwalkers WLRN (Associated Press report) · 19 May 2023

   “Jeff Bezos' rocket company has won a NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon, two years after it lost out to SpaceX.”

Reasoning

NASA's 2023-05-19 release (E1) states that NASA selected Blue Origin to develop a human landing system for the Artemis V mission to the Moon. Independent reports from the same day (E2, E4) identify Blue Origin as owned by Jeff Bezos and say it won a NASA contract to land astronauts on the Moon. This meets the criteria's test of a dated, official arrangement linking Bezos to NASA's crewed lunar landing effort as of that date.

Cite this claim

Jeff Bezos, “Jeff Bezos is part of a joint effort with NASA to land astronauts on the Moon.” (said 19 May 2023). Verdict: resolved true. Reliability API, claim c_644d85f2181a, method 0.1.0+c876030c. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_644d85f2181a