NASA announced on Monday (20) that it was ropening the prime US Moon landing contract to other bidders due to SpaceX’s mounting delays with the lunar module Starship.
The move paves the way for rivals like Blue Origin to achieve a high-profile mission to land the first astronauts on the Moon in half a century.
“I’m in the process of opening that contract. I think we’ll see companies like Blue get involved, and maybe others,” acting head of the U.S. space agency, Sean Duffy, who is also U.S. Secretary of Transportation, told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”
Duffy’s comments come after months of mounting pressure within NASA to accelerate the Artemis lunar program and pressure SpaceX to further progress the Starship lunar lander, as China moves toward its own goal of .
This represents a Big change in NASA’s lunar strategyinitiating a new competitive environment in the program for a manned lunar module just two years before the scheduled landing date. Blue Origin is widely expected to compete for the mission, while Lockheed Martin indicated it would convene an industry team to answer the agency’s call.
Starship, chosen by NASA in 2021 under a contract now worth US$4.4 billion (about R$23.7 billion), faces a deadline for landing on the Moon in 2027 which, according to estimates by the agency’s consultants, could take years.
Musk sees Starship as crucial to launching larger batches of Starlink satellites into space and eventually transporting humans to Mars, among other missions.
“They do remarkable things, but they are behind schedule,” Duffy said of SpaceX’s lunar lander work, adding that President Donald Trump wants the mission to occur before his White House term ends in January 2029.
The move is a significant change under the agency’s interim leadership, and as the White House and Duffy begin to reopen the nomination process for a permanent administrator.
Billionaire businessman and SpaceX astronaut client Jared Isaacman, an ally of Musk, is in negotiations to regain the nomination that had been withdrawn by Trump. Musk didn’t dwell on the specter of more competition in a social media post.
“SpaceX is moving like lightning compared to the rest of the space industry,” the SpaceX CEO wrote on X, responding to a user on Monday. “Furthermore, Starship will end up doing the entire mission to the Moon. Take note of what I say.”
The mission involving SpaceX, Artemis 3would be the first human lunar landing since .
Bezos’ space company Blue Origin, with the Blue Moon lunar lander in development, has a similar lunar landing contract awarded by NASA in 2023, but for later Artemis lunar missions.
The company had protested NASA’s initial decision to choose only SpaceX in 2021 and fought for years to convince the agency and lawmakers to select another proposal as redundancy.
Duffy’s reference to Blue Origin on Monday suggests that Bezos’ space company could compete for Artemis 3.
Blue Origin has been developing the Blue Moon module in Florida with relatively little public attention under a contract worth approximately US$3 billion.
SpaceX has been developing Starship in Texas in a frenzied campaign of “test-to-failure” demonstration missions, but NASA has been troubled by the lack of progress on the lunar lander’s specific development milestones.
Asked about the details of Duffy’s remarks, a NASA spokesperson said the agency has asked SpaceX and Blue Origin to submit accelerated Moon landing plans by October 29.
“NASA will also solicit plans from across the commercial space industry… on how NASA can increase the cadence of our mission to the Moon,” the spokesperson said.
In a statement to Reuters, Bob Behnken, vice president of Exploration and Technology Strategy at Lockheed Martin’s space unit, said the company has been conducting “significant technical and programmatic analysis for human lunar landers” this year.
“We have been working with a cross-industry team of companies and together we look forward to fulfilling Secretary Duffy’s request to meet our country’s lunar objectives,” said Behnken, a retired NASA astronaut.
NASA’s multibillion-dollar Artemis program is a series of missions involving multiple contractors with the goal of returning humans to the Moon for a long-term presence there. THE Artemis 3 is planned for 2027 com a Starship da SpaceX.
A , a 10-day flight around the Moon and back involving systems built by Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, is on track to April and could be brought forward to February, he added.
Bezos and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp reportedly spoke with Trump a few months ago when the Republican president was at odds with Musk, a supporter in the 2024 election who has been tapped to lead efforts to cut the federal government, known as Doge.
