On 2021-04-21 18:29, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article ,
says...

...
The possibility of being able to replace SLS for Earth-Moon transit
is likely why SpaceX won over the other more specialized
solutions.

That's not correct. There have been articles published talking about
the selection.

The other two had serious problems with their proposals.

Yes.


Blue Origin's proposal was disqualified because they essentially
asked for payments before reaching milestones (not allowed).

Not really. That problem with the National Team proposal was noted, but
there is a foot-note in the source-selection statement that says that it
was not a fatal flaw, because it could have been negotiated away. There
were some technical problems and low TRLs for some of the propulsion
parts, IIRC. And no clear path to sustainable or commercial operation (a
major redesign was proposed for that).


Also, the SpaceX proposal was the only one that fit the paltry HLS
funding that NASA is currently getting from Congress.


That was the major reason. That, and the (surprising?) fact that the
Lunar Starship risks turned out not to be higher than the risks of the
others.

Even the SpaceX proposal exceeded the money available for the first
year(s), so NASA had to negotiate a delayed payment plan with SpaceX.