A federal claims judge granted late Wednesday an injunction prohibiting the government's purchase of Russian rockets in response to a suit from Elon Musk's SpaceX.
In his suit, Musk contended that the government's contract to a joint Boeing-Lockheed venture was not competitive, and that the venture's plan to purchase Russian rockets went against the spirit of new U.S. sanctions against that country for its incursion into Ukraine.
"This is not SpaceX protesting and saying these launches should be awarded to us," Musk had said at a news conference announcing the initial suit. "We're just saying these launches should be competed. If we compete and lose, that's fine. But why would they not even compete it? That doesn't make sense."
Federal claims court Susan Braden agreed, ruling, "...in the court's judgment, the public interest and national defense and security concerns that underlie Executive Order 13,661 warrant issuance of a preliminary injunction in this case that prohibits."