Tesla boss Elon Musk mocked billionaire rival Jeff Bezos for failing to develop rocket technology and focussing on government lobbying instead.

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"If lobbying & lawyers could get u to orbit, Bezos would be on Pluto rn," Musk said on Twitter.

The SpaceX CEO was responding to a Twitter user who said if Bezos' Blue Origin space exploration company would have put more efforts in designing their rockets instead of challenging the NASA contract awarded for the upcoming Artemis lunar mission then the company would have been more successful with its new spacecraft New Shepard.

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The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration had awarded a $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX for producing, building and designing a moon lander.

SpaceX was chosen by the organisation over its competitors Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Draper and Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Dynetics Inc. SpaceX had submitted an individual bid for the contract.

Blue Origin had in April filed a protest with the federal Government Accountability Office contesting NASA's decision to award the contract to SpaceX.

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While New Shepard recently carried the Amazon founder to space recently, the spaceship has not pulled off nearly as many launches as the reusable Falcon 9 heavy rocket from SpaceX.

The private interest in space exploration, first triggered by Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic, has been followed up by other companies like Rocket Lab, SpaceX and Blue Origin. The renewed interest in space exploration has been used by NASA to further development in spacecraft and related technology.

(Edited by : Jomy Jos Pullokaran)