SpaceX takes the contract with NASA to go to the Moon

Miami. The US space agency NASA announced on Friday that it had awarded SpaceX a contract to $ 2.90 billion to bring astronauts back to the Moon in 2024 considering that the company “has everything they need” for their lunar missions.

NASA pointed out at a press conference that they chose what best suited the needs of the Artemis program, its lunar strategy, federal government budget and security on landing.

Blue Origin, the aerospace company of Jeff Bezos, president of Amazon and considered the richest man in the world, also aspired to the contract for the so-called Artemis Human Landing System (HLS).

The HLS contract envisages a lunar launch and landing “as early as 2024.”

The offer of SpaceX founder Elon Musk thus surpassed that of Dynetics and also that of Bezos, who had partnered with Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and Draper.

Musk’s company will thus be in charge of continuing the development of the first commercial human landing module that will safely bring the next two American astronauts to the lunar surface.

At least one of these astronauts will make history as the first woman on the moon.

The agency’s Space Launch System rocket will launch a total of four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft for its multi-day trip into lunar orbit.

There, two of them will move to SpaceX’s Human Landing System (HLS) for the final leg of their journey to the surface of the Moon.

After about a week exploring the surface, they will board the landing module for their short journey back into orbit, where they will return to Orion before returning to Earth.

“This critical step puts humanity on the path to sustainable lunar exploration and keeps our eyes on more distant missions in the solar system, including Mars,” said Kathy LUEDERS, head of the man’s manned missions. NASA.

Unlike the Apollo lunar landing, more than 50 years ago, NASA is preparing for a long-term presence on this Earth satellite.

This presence will allow humans to reach Mars with the help of the private sector.

“During the Apollo program, we showed that it’s possible to do the seemingly impossible: take humans to the moon,” said Lisa Watson-Morgan, HLS program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Alabama.

He added that thanks to the new collaborative approach “we will return American astronauts to the surface of the Moon once again, this time to explore new areas for longer periods of time.”

SpaceX’s HLS spacecraft, designed to land on the moon, relies on the company’s proven Raptor engines and the flight legacy of Falcon and Dragon vehicles, NASA said.