Bezos’ Blue Origin wins NASA contract to build astronaut lunar lander

A staff led by Jeff Bezos’ house firm Blue Origin received a coveted NASA contract to construct a spacecraft that may ship astronauts to and from the moon’s floor, NASA’s chief introduced on Friday, capping a high-stakes contest.

NASA’s determination will give the company a second experience to the moon underneath its Artemis program, after it awarded Elon Musk’s SpaceX $3 billion in 2021 to land astronauts on the moon for the primary time because the remaining Apollo mission in 1972.

Those preliminary missions utilizing SpaceX’s Starship system are slated for later this decade.

The Blue Origin contract is valued roughly $3.4 billion, NASA’s exploration chief Jim Free mentioned, with Blue Origin privately contributing “well north” of that quantity, Blue Origin’s lunar lander head John Couluris mentioned.

“Honored to be on this journey with @NASA to land astronauts on the Moon – this time to stay,” Amazon.com billionaire founder Bezos mentioned in a tweet after the announcement.

Blue Origin plans to construct its 52-foot (16-meter) tall Blue Moon lander in a partnership with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, spacecraft software program agency Draper, and robotics agency Astrobotic.

SpaceX’s Starship lander is poised to conduct the primary two astronaut moon landings underneath NASA’s Artemis program, sending a pair of astronauts to the lunar floor for every mission. The Blue Moon touchdown, deliberate for 2029, can be anticipated to ferry two astronauts to the floor. “Our partnership will only add to this golden age of human spaceflight,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson mentioned. He added that having a second moon lander for the company’s Artemis mission promotes industrial competitors, echoing a pattern in recent times that reduces prices for NASA.

Friday’s announcement in Washington was a long-awaited end result for Blue Origin, which had unsuccessfully had competed for previous contracts. The house firm overcame a rival bid from Leidos-owned protection contractor Dynetics Inc, the top of a partnership with Northrop Grumman.

Those corporations misplaced out to SpaceX for the 2021 contract, a part of an preliminary moon lander procurement program. NASA underneath that program mentioned it may decide as much as two corporations, however blamed funds constraints for under going with SpaceX.

This new contract is a lift for Bezos, who since founding Blue Origin in 2000 has invested billions into the corporate to compete for high-profile industrial and authorities house contracts with SpaceX, a dominant pressure in satellite tv for pc launches and human spaceflight.

After dropping in 2021, Blue Origin unsuccessfully fought to overturn NASA’s determination to disregard its Blue Moon lander, first with a watchdog company after which in courtroom.

Blue Origin and lawmakers had pressured NASA to award a second lunar lander contract to advertise industrial competitors and make sure the company has a backup experience to the moon. NASA in early 2022 introduced this system for a second lander contract.

Couluris, who will lead Blue Origin’s improvement of the moon lander, mentioned Friday’s award was exhausting fought end result.

“We’ve been working for some time, and we’re still ready to go,” he mentioned.

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