![]() ![]() She was contributing writer for for 10 years before joining full-time, freelancing since 2012. SpaceX originally aimed to attempt a Starship space launch in 2021, but the required paperwork and consultation to complete the environmental review with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), along with development work, meant that a launch was not possible until April 2023.Įlizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. Starship has been delayed in its development due to numerous factors, and in August 2022 NASA's Office of the Inspector General warned that the first human moon landing since Apollo may push to at least 2026 as a result. SpaceX has also been tasked with landing the astronauts of Artemis 4. It's set to launch no earlier than 2025, depending on how development with Starship goes. The Artemis 3 mission will use SpaceX's Starship system to land near the moon's south pole. Future Artemis crews have not yet been announced. NASA's Artemis 2 crew, set to go around the moon in 2024, includes (clockwise) NASA astronaut Christina Koch, NASA astronaut Victor Glover, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, and NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman. Related: Elon Musk scorns Jeff Bezos' lawsuit on NASA moon lander ![]() NASA's $24.83 billion budget that fiscal year was slight more than the $24.8 billion that NASA requested, and most of the increase was for HLS. In its 2021 report, the Senate noted that NASA's Human Launch System program was not underfunded, which NASA had claimed in its decision to solely fund SpaceX. NASA issued the new HLS call for proposals a year later, following industry consultation on drafts. While the agency was eventually cleared to proceed, in September 2021 the Senate Appropriations Committee directed NASA to choose a second company to build a crewed Artemis lander. The legal wrangling delayed the implementation of SpaceX's contract by several months. NASA's selection of SpaceX sparked complaints from fellow competitors Blue Origin and Dynetics, along with a lawsuit from Blue Origin. The decision surprised some people, who expected that NASA would choose two of the three companies then vying for the lucrative contract, in part to ensure a backup option. The origin of the new HLS award dates to April 2021, shortly after NASA made SpaceX its sole choice for an Artemis lander after reviewing three bids. This SpaceX concept shows the company's massive Starship vehicle on the moon as a lunar lander for NASA Artemis astronauts. Related: Blue Origin unveils 'Blue Moon,' its big lunar lander There was one other competitor, a consortium led by Northrop Grumman, a former collaborator with Blue Origin during the last HLS round that concluded in 2021. Bidding on the new HLS contract closed in December. NASA officials declined to say in the conference what made Blue Origin's bid the winning option, saying documentation would be coming out shortly. Lockheed Martin will provide a cislunar transporter to refuel the reusable Blue Moon, which will remain in a "parking orbit" between landing missions to reduce cost. Noting that Japan's ispace and Israel's SpaceIL failed to land their robotic, privately developed landers safely on the surface of the moon recently, Couluris said Blue Origin will lean upon its large industry team for "lessons learned so we don't repeat those lessons again" on the Artemis 5 mission.īlue Origin's "SLD National Team" also includes Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic and Honeybee Robotics. After docking with Gateway, two astronauts will move into Blue Moon to journey to the south pole of the moon for about a week. ![]() The astronauts will launch separately aboard NASA's Space Launch System rocket in an Orion spacecraft. "We'll be testing out full lander systems and the full architecture prior to any astronauts entering the vehicle, and that will be roughly one year prior," John Couluris, Blue Origin's vice president for lunar transportation, said during the same press conference.Īrtemis 5 calls for Blue Moon to launch on a yet-to-be-announced rocket and dock with Gateway, a future NASA-led outpost in lunar orbit. ![]()
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