NASA’s SpaceX in Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and the three Dynetics companies that represent a strong presence in the defense industry competed in the development of an Artemis-planned lunar landing ship. I chose X.
The $2.9 billion contract included the development of Starship, where SpaceX continued testing in South Texas. In addition, SpaceX achieved the first feat as a private enterprise by realizing the transport of astronauts to the International Space Station in the United States for the first time since the end of last year’s space shuttle plan.
Starship has failed to land and exploded in all 10km elevation tests so far. However, SpaceX is still trying to successfully launch this large rocket orbit by this year, and NASA has noted its reusability.
In the Artemis program, NASA is considering sending four astronauts to the lunar orbital gateway using the SLS Rocket Origin spacecraft. Starship is here waiting to greet two astronauts. However, the first mission in NASA’s manned lunar exploration reveals that the Origin spacecraft may dock directly with Starship. The landing crew aboard the Starship stays on the moon for one month, then takes off and returns to the Origin spacecraft.
In addition, the SpaceX contract is for the first two pilot flights of the Artemis plan, and Blue Origin and Dynamics are not completely lost in future contract opportunities. This is because NASA is planning additional contracts to send astronauts to the moon on a regular basis.
When the Artemis plan was announced under the Trump regime, NASA again sent astronauts to the moon in 2024, aiming for the first time to include women and people of color. However, as of the Biden regime, NASA has not yet secured the necessary funds, and no specific timeline has been presented in this SpaceX contract. In addition, NASA says safety cannot be compromised to achieve its goals. Related information can be found here.