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MiamiThe US space agency NASA announced on Friday that it has awarded SpaceX a contract for $ 2,890 million to bring astronauts back to the moon in 2024, as the company has “everything they need” for their lunar missions.
NASA specified in a press conference that they chose the one that best suited the needs of the Artemis program, lunar strategy, federal government budget, and landing safety.
The Artemis program’s so-called Human Landing System (HLS) contract also sought Blue Origin, the aerospace company of Jeff Bezos, president of Amazon and considered the richest man in the world.
The HLS contract provides for a launch and landing on the moon “as early as 2024”.
The offer of Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, 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 development of the first commercial human lander that will safely transport the next two US astronauts to the lunar surface.
At least one of those 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 journey to orbit the moon.
There, two of them will be transferred to SpaceX’s Human Landing System (HLS) for the final leg of their journey to the surface of the moon.
After about a week of exploring the surface, they board the lander for their short journey back to Earth orbit, where they return to Orion before returning to Earth.
“This critical step puts humanity on the path to sustainable exploration of the moon and keeps our eyes on missions further out in the solar system, including Mars,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA’s chief of manned missions.
Unlike the Apollo moon landing more than 50 years ago, NASA is preparing for a long-term presence on this satellite of Earth.
This presence allows people to reach Mars with the help of the private sector.
“During the Apollo program, we demonstrated that it is possible to do the seemingly impossible: get people 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 once again return American astronauts to the surface of the moon, this time to explore new areas for extended periods of time.”
SpaceX’s HLS spacecraft, designed to land on the moon, relies on the company’s proven Raptor engines and the flying heritage of the Falcon and Dragon vehicles, NASA said.