Blue Origin lost at least 17 high-level staff after SpaceX was awarded the $2.9 billion NASA moon-lander contract, reports say

• Blue Origin lost about 17 high-level employees so far this year, CNBC reported.
• Some of the staffers left after SpaceX won a NASA lunar contract.
• Others left after Jeff Bezos went to space, Fox Business reported.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

At least 17 top staffers at Blue Origin left the company this year, with many departing in the weeks after founder Jeff Bezos flew into space, CNBC reported.

The news follows a report by Insider's Kate Duffy on Tuesday, which revealed that a lead engineer had left to join Elon Musk's SpaceX.

As CNBC reported, this was not the only high-level departure. Many other engineers and key leaders had also left, it said.

Several of those departing had been part of the team that tried to land a high-profile NASA lunar contract, the outlet said. Fox Business said it confirmed the departure of about a dozen employees.

Bezos' space company has grown rapidly in recent years, with about 1,500 employees joining since the beginning of 2020, a spokesperson told CNBC. They said: "In fact, we've grown by nearly a factor of four over the past three years."

The departures were noteworthy because of their timing, coming after NASA in April announced that SpaceX would be awarded a $2.9-billion contract for a moon lander for the Artemis missions, reports said. During the bidding process for that contract, NASA said it expected to choose two partners, but it chose to award a single contract. A team led by Blue Origin was one of three bidders.

Blue Origin in April filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office. The federal watchdog in July rejected its protest.

Blue Origin earlier this month said it was suing NASA in federal claims court, saying in its complaint that the agency didn't properly evaluate the proposals. NASA last week paused work on the moon-landing contract until November.

Bezos went to space in July, marking his company's first crewed space flight. After his trip, Blue Origin paid $10,000 bonuses to employees, CNBC reported.

Insider has reached out to Blue Origin for comment.