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NASA has given SpaceX and Blue Origin the go-ahead to develop their new lunar landers that will bring the first woman and the next man to the surface of the moon.
Private space flight companies owned by Elon musk and Jeff Bezos, will develop competitive systems in parallel, along with a third company called Dynetics, but NASA will eventually choose one.
NASA has awarded the three companies 10-month contracts worth $ 967 million (£ 770 million), with payments subject to the companies reaching specific development milestones.
NASA’s new Artemis mission will return the space agency to the moon
Contracts are for design and build human landing systems for NASA’s return to the moon in 2024, including launch and landing vehicles.
The SpaceX Super Heavy rocket, Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket system, and Dynetics human landing system have yet to be built or tested.
The three companies will spend the next 10 months refining their landing concepts together with NASA until the space agency makes a decision on who to continue working with in February of next year.
At that point, the agency will decide who can conduct initial demonstration missions, and ultimately who will be part of bringing humanity back to the moon.
Apollo missions began more than 50 years ago.
New from NASA Artemis ProgramNamed after Apollo’s mythological sister, the namesake of the first lunar mission, it will lay the groundwork for an eventual manned mission to Mars.
“With these contractual awards, the United States is moving forward with the final step necessary to land astronauts on the moon by 2024, including the incredible moment when we will see the first woman set foot on the lunar surface,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
“This is the first time since the Apollo era that NASA has direct funding for a human landing system, and now we have contracted companies to do the work for the Artemis program.”
Elon Musk, who is currently complaining about coronavirus blocking measures, previously suggested that SpaceX could fly to the moon if NASA were unwilling to partner with it.
He claimed it would be easier for your company to land on the moon than trying to convince the space agency and other authorities that it was up to the task.
“I want to say that it is important for this agency to do this now, because our country, and indeed the entire world, has been rocked by this coronavirus pandemic,” Bridenstine said.
“And yet we have to give people hope. We need to give them something they can admire, dream about, something that inspires not only the nation but the whole world.”
