Category : Science and TechPublished on: May 23 2023
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US federal space agency NASA has selected Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin to construct a spacecraft that will send astronauts to and from the surface of the moon, winning a contract valued at about USD 3.4 billion.
NASA said Blue Origin will design, develop, test, and verify its Blue Moon lander to meet NASA's human landing system requirements for recurring astronaut expeditions to the lunar surface, including docking with Gateway, a space station where crew transfer in lunar orbit.
In addition to design and development work, the contract includes one uncrewed demonstration mission to the lunar surface before a crewed demo on the Artemis V mission in 2029.
Blue Origin plans to build its 16-metre tall Blue Moon lander in partnership with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, software firm Draper and robotics firm Astrobotic.
NASA awarded fellow billionaire Mr Musk's SpaceX $US3 billion ($4.5 billion) in 2021 to build its Starship spacecraft to land astronauts on the lunar surface for the first time since the final Apollo mission in 1972.
