NASA, Blue Origin contract: Multibillion-dollar Artemis deal awarded

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BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. − Blue Origin, along with partners Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics, was announced Friday as the second company selected by NASA to develop a human lunar lander system for Artemis missions to the moon.

Blue Origin joins SpaceX and its Starship vehicle as the only other company selected to develop spacecraft to carry Artemis astronauts to the surface of the moon in an effort that NASA calls “Sustaining Lunar Development.” Blue Origin’s NASA contract is valued at $3.4 billion.

“An additional, different lander will help ensure that we have the hardware necessary for a series of landings to carry out the science and technology development on the surface of the moon,” said Bill Nelson, NASA administrator, during Friday’s announcement. “It’s the new way we go to the moon.”

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Blue Origin’s reusable lander called “Blue Moon” was selected deliver astronauts to the lunar surface for the agency’s Artemis V mission slated for no earlier than 2029.

“For the Artemis V mission, NASA’s Space Launch System rocket will launch four astronauts to lunar orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft. Once Orion docks with Gateway, two astronauts will transfer to Blue Origin’s human landing system for about a weeklong trip to the moon’s south pole region where they will conduct science and exploration activities,” NASA said in a statement.

Blue Origin, owned and personally funded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the world’s richest person, initially debuted plans for its Blue Moon lander in 2019. A substantial redesign to accommodate more cargo and crew has been added since then.

“We’ll be testing our full lander systems and the full architecture prior to any astronauts entering the vehicle and that will be roughly one year prior,” John Couluris, Blue Origin vice president of lunar transportation, said Friday. “Before that, we have a number of test launches and landings that we’ll be we’ll be releasing here soon.”

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A substantial Blue Origin investment supplements the $3.4 billion fixed-price contract awarded by NASA Friday.

“Blue Origin is contributing well north of $3.4 billion as part of this effort,” Couluris said without revealing more specifics.

In 2021, NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract as the sole commercial partner to ferry Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface in its Starship vehicle. That was challenged by Blue Origin with a federal lawsuit after the agency said budget constraints limited the selection to just one company. NASA’s selection was ultimately upheld when a federal judge denied Blue Origin’s protest of the multibillion-dollar moon lander contract.

“SpaceX is making good progress,” Nelson said. “SpaceX is working hard on their Starship lander, which will deliver the first woman and the next man to the surface.”

With that initial contract, SpaceX plans complete an uncrewed Starship lunar landing demonstration followed by a crewed landing delivering two astronauts to the moon’s surface as a part of NASA’s Artemis III mission slated for before 2030. NASA revised that contract in November 2022 to allow a modification that funneled another $1.15 billion to SpaceX to continue the development of Starship and ordered services to ferry astronauts to the moon for Artemis IV.

At the same time, NASA opened up the “Sustaining Lunar Development” lane to create more opportunities for companies besides SpaceX to compete for a human landing services contract for the Artemis V mission and beyond.

“With today’s announcement, we are making an additional investment in the infrastructure that will pave the way to land the first humans on Mars,” Nelson said Friday.