Blue Origin
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket successfully performed its first orbital flight
Humanity’s return to the Moon faces unexpected obstacles. NASA’s main partner, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is behind in developing the landing module, which has led the space agency to accelerate the search for alternatives — triggering an authentic space race in the private sector.
NASA’s ambitious mission aims to take astronauts to the lunar surface again until mid-2027more than 55 years after Eugene Cernan have become the.
However, internal SpaceX documents obtained by reveal that the company will not be able to achieve this objective before September 2028, in the most optimistic scenario.
The delay is due to the complexity of the development of the Starship Human Landing System (HLS), a modified version of SpaceX’s Starship designed specifically for moon landings.
Faced with these difficulties, NASA took a drastic decision: in October, reopened the competition for the construction of the Artemis III moon landing module, and invited other manufacturers to submit proposals.
The objective of the decision is clearly press SpaceX and, at the same time, guarantee a contingency plan in case new delays arise on the part of the aerospace company. Elon Musk, says to.
Musk didn’t react exactly well. In a series of offensive posts on his X profile, the founder and CEO of SpaceX harshly criticized the US Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffywho claims to have a 2-digit IQ and who “Sean Palermo” — in a pun between the nickname Duffy and the term “dummy”.
“Would someone whose greatest achievement is climbing trees should he be at the head of the American space program?”, Musk in one of the posts. Duffy, a former member of Congress, is a world champion in speed climbing in the lumberjack category.
SpaceX
Starship HLS spacecraft on the Moon (illustration)
SpaceX’s busy schedule
SpaceX’s new plan, which is expected to be presented to NASA in December, is extremely ambitious and includes several key steps.
The first stage, scheduled for June 2026provides the first in-orbit fuel transfera critical operation for Starship’s journey to the Moon. In June 2027, the plan foresees a unmanned landing of Starship HLS. It was at this time that NASA hoped to launch the manned mission.
Finally, the North American private aerospace company plans to carry out in September 2028 the first manned landing of Artemis astronauts. However, there are serious doubts regarding the viability of this calendar.
Starship has never completed a fully successful orbital flightmuch less complex refueling maneuvers. Furthermore, HLS envisages the use of a new, even larger version of the rocket, the Starship V3whose inaugural flight is only scheduled for 2026.
Who can benefit from SpaceX’s problems?
One of SpaceX’s biggest problems is that you are not alone in the race for space in the “private companies” category — and some of its competitors have managed to achieve important advances and successful tests.
O main competitor of Elon Musk’s company is currently the Blue Originfrom the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos — which is already developing the moon landing module Blue Moon Mark 2 (MK2) for the future Artemis V mission.
Last week, Blue Origin’s rocket not only successfully completed its first orbital flighthow he managed to recover the rocket booster, which, with a perfect maneuver, landed intact on a sea platform.
The success of the New Glenn test is an important step for Bezos’ company, paving the way for a demonstration of an unmanned landing as early as 2026 — and makes it clear that Blue Origin is in full transition from sleeping giant to a force to be reckoned with, highlights .
In this context, Blue Origin has a real chance of winning the contract of Artemis III. NASA has already received proposals from both companies to accelerate development and should soon launch an expanded competition to industry to choose the most reliable route back to the Moon.
NASA’s lunar program is at a decisive moment. SpaceX’s ambitious but risky schedule and the emergence of a solid competitor like Blue Origin make the future of the Artemis III mission uncertain.
Also uncertain is the name of the company that will take the man or woman to the Moon, who will give the next small step — which will be great for Humanity.
