A Blue Origin-led team has won a $3.4B NASA contract to build a spacecraft that will deliver astronauts to the moon's surface later this decade. The crewed mission, scheduled to launch no sooner than Sept. 2029, is part of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon as early as 2025. - Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company, will oversee a team that will develop a crewed lunar lander for the third crewed moon landing, known as Artemis V (5).
- Blue Origin will partner with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Draper, and Astrobotic to develop the 52-foot-tall lander named Blue Moon.
- NASA plans to use the vehicle, along with SpaceX's Starship, to ferry astronauts between the moon's surface and a future space station in lunar orbit called "Gateway."
- Blue Moon, docked to the Gateway, will touch down at the lunar south pole as part of the long-term goal to establish a permanent human presence on the moon.
- Blue Origin is also making a private contribution beyond the $3.4B contract amount.
- After two test missions under the Artemis program, Artemis III, scheduled for 2025, is set to return humans to the lunar surface after more than half a century.
- NASA already chose SpaceX's Starship for the first (Artemis III) and second (Artemis IV) crewed landings.
Artist's concept of the Blue Moon lander. Credits: Blue Origin |
