The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) continues its preparations for the Artemis missions that will take humanity to the Moon. In a statement made today, the agency announced which company will carry astronauts to the satellite in the Artemis V mission.
NASA announced that billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin has been selected. The value of the deal is stated to be 3.4 billion dollars.
Blue Origin will develop a lunar landing system for the mission in 2029
With NASA’s decision, Blue Origin has been awarded $3.4 billion for developing a lunar landing system. The system named “Blue Moon”, which will be developed by the company, will be used in the Artemis V mission, which is expected to be realized in 2029.
If all goes as planned, the mission will send a crew of four to the Moon with NASA’s Orion capsule. Two of them will conduct research that will land on the surface using Blue Origin’s vehicle. Let’s add that Blue Origin works with leading companies in the aviation field, including Lockeed Martin and Boeing.
Blue Origin lost to SpaceX in the race for the Artemis III mission landing craft
It’s not the first time Blue Origin has competed for the Artemis missions. Bezos’ company faced off against Elon Musk’s company SpaceX for Artemis III (2025), which will be the first manned mission in 2021. NASA also gave the $2.9 billion deal to SpaceX. On the other hand, NASA announced that by expanding SpaceX’s mission, the company’s lander would also be used on Artemis IV.
After the NASA decision in 2021, Blue Origin objected to the assignment of the task to only one company, and even filed a lawsuit. However, his objections were later rejected and he lost the case. With the current decision, Artemis had the opportunity to compete with SpaceX in its missions. NASA also stated that its new decision will increase competition.
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