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Space Wars: The (Petty) Saga of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos
The new space race is on and the world is watching competing billionaire astronauts go head-to-head… in a PETTY legal battle. Yes, the two richest men in the world hold the future in their hands and here they are on Earth, battling it out through complaint filings.
Being the notorious memer that he is, Elon fired shots at Bezos on Twitter about his rocket’s poor performance (using a “male performance” double entendre). Bezos fired back by… filing an official complaint before the FCC.
The filing said: “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.”
So, is any of this true? Is what Jeff Bezos saying legit and not in any way a tactic to knock out the competition?
According to some SpaceX employees, the company has cut corners in the past, suggesting that some of their rocket failures were a result of this. One employee, Jason Blasdell, even lost his job for complaining about the issue. He apparently took the complaint to the HR department, saying that he was pressured into creating “false test passes.”