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Elon MuskSpaceX will return American astronauts to the surface of the moon, beating rival billionaire Jeff Bezos to one of the most prominent awards in the commercial space race.
On Friday, NASA named SpaceX as the sole contractor to build its next lunar lander and conduct a single demonstration visit to the Moon, potentially as early as 2024.
SpaceX offered to build and operate its $ 2.9 billion lander, which was “significantly” lower than a rival Blue Origin bid from Bezos, according to a NASA document obtained by the Washington Post. A third company, Dynetics, had submitted an offer that was even higher.
The selection of a single contractor breaks with NASA’s recent practice of choosing two rival projects for the most important elements of its space program and reflects the severe budgetary pressure under which the agency has been operating while trying to return to the moon. for the first time since 1972.
“We awarded the contract to SpaceX given what we believe are realistic budgets in the coming years,” said Mark Kirasich, a NASA official.
The choice of SpaceX threatens to widen the gap with other concerns about commercial space and leaves NASA increasingly dependent on Musk’s private space company. In addition to pioneering a new era of fixed-cost commercial space programs for NASA, SpaceX was the first to transport cargo to the International Space Station and last year returned human spaceflight to Earth. United for the first time since 2011, when he took NASA astronauts to the ISS.
NASA officials said they would be launching a review on how they can stay competitive in human terrestrial development, including a round of consultations with the rest of the commercial space industry. The discussions were designed to lead to a series of “sustainable” visits to the Moon after the landing of the SpaceX demonstration, they said.
Bezos had tried to align with some of the traditional powers of the American space industry, leading a project to build a lunar lander alongside Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper.
SpaceX will use its spacecraft, which is under development, for the demonstration lunar landing. Despite the company’s plans to eventually use the vessel for a full trip between Earth and Mars, its role in the landing announced Friday will only be to bring two astronauts from orbit around the moon to the moon. surface before returning them.
The mission is part of NASA’s Artemis program, which will use Boeing’s giant SLS rocket, along with Lockheed Martin’s Orion spacecraft, to fly astronauts to and from a “gateway” into orbit. lunar. Despite Starship’s potential to replace those two programs, Kirasich said NASA had “no plans to change our architecture” and would stick with its existing plans to reach the moon.
SpaceX has suffered several fire crashes this year in its first efforts to demonstrate that it can safely land the Starship. Lisa Watson-Morgan, director of NASA’s lunar landing program, said of the problems: “Because we have areas to work on, we will work on them. But right now everything looks good.”
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