Blue Origin Receives Super Order From NASA

Blue Origin Receives Super Order From NASA

20. Mai 2023 0 Von Horst Buchwald

Blue Origin Receives Super Order From NASA

Washington, 5/20/2023

The Blue Origin-led team has won a $3.4 billion NASA contract to build a spacecraft that will take astronauts to the lunar surface later this decade.

The manned mission, which is not scheduled to launch until September 2029 at the earliest, is part of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon as early as 2025.

Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos‘ space company, will lead a team that will develop a manned lunar lander for the third manned lunar landing, known as Artemis V (5).

Blue Origin will work with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Draper and Astrobotic to develop the 52-foot-tall lander called Blue Moon.

NASA plans to use the vehicle in conjunction with SpaceX’s Starship to ferry astronauts between the lunar surface and a future lunar orbiting space station called Gateway.

Blue Moon, docked at the Gateway, will land at the Moon’s South Pole as part of the long-term goal of establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon.

Blue Origin is also making a private contribution in excess of the $3.4 billion contract.