NASA is set to announce the second company to build a spacecraft to send astronauts to and from the moon’s surface on Friday. This decision will give the agency a second ride to the moon under its Artemis program. The competition includes Jeff Bezos’ space firm Blue Origin and defense company Northrop Grumman.
This new contract offers a second chance for Bezos, who since founding Blue Origin in 2000 has invested billions into the company to compete for high-profile commercial and government space contracts with SpaceX. Blue Origin has partnered with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, spacecraft software firm Draper, and robotics firm Astrobotic for its latest moon lander proposal.
Northrop Grumman, previously a key partner in Blue Origin’s unsuccessful Blue Moon bid in 2021, switched teams to join its former rival Dynetics. NASA’s multi-spacecraft plan for the Artemis moonshots involves its Space Launch System rocket launching astronauts toward the moon aboard the Lockheed-built Orion capsule.
The announcement of the second company to build a spacecraft to send astronauts to and from the moon’s surface will be made on Friday in Washington. It will be interesting to see who NASA chooses and how this will affect the future of space exploration.