Global Courant 2023-05-19 22:48:15
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Jeff Bezos’ rocket company has won a NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon, two years after it lost to SpaceX.
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Blue Origin received a $3.4 billion contract on Friday to lead a team developing a lunar lander called Blue Moon. It will be used to transport astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2029, following a pair of crew landings by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
NASA will launch astronauts into lunar orbit with its own rockets and capsules, but wants private companies to take over from there.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the agency wants several landing options as it pursues a return to the moon more than half a century after the Apollo moon shots ended.
Blue Origin is kicking in billions of dollars, on top of the NASA contract, to help establish a permanent presence on the moon.
“We still have a lot to do before we can successfully land and return astronauts,” said John Couluris, vice president of Blue Origin.
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Two years ago, Blue Origin sued after NASA awarded SpaceX the contract for the first moon landing. A federal judge upheld the space agency’s decision.
NASA’s Artemis program, which tracks the Apollo moonshots from the 1960s and 1970s. started late last year with a successful test flight. Launched atop NASA’s new moon rocket, an empty Orion capsule went into lunar orbit before returning home.
The next Artemis flight will come late next year when a Canadian and three American astronauts fly to the moon and back but fail to land. Two Americans would then descend to the lunar surface aboard a SpaceX Starship on the mission, not until late 2025.
Like SpaceX, Blue Origin plans to land on the moon without a crew before astronauts embark.
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While the shiny, stainless steel Starship has a sci-fi look to it, Blue Moon looks more like a traditional capsule on top of a tall compartment with legs. The latter will be 16 meters on the moon.
The landers from both companies are intended to be reusable.
Blue Origin will use its still-under development New Glenn rocket to launch its lunar missions from Cape Canaveral. Starship, the world’s largest rocket, made its debut last month from South Texas; the test flight ended in an explosive fireball a few minutes into the flight.
The Blue Origin team consists of five partners: Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Draper, Astrobotic Technology and Honeybee Robotics.
According to NASA, only one other bid has been submitted for the contract competition.
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