{"id":11745,"date":"2021-04-18T00:30:34","date_gmt":"2021-04-17T16:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-chooses-spacex-to-land-next-astronauts-on-the-moon\/"},"modified":"2021-04-18T00:30:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-17T16:30:34","slug":"nasa-chooses-spacex-to-land-next-astronauts-on-the-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-chooses-spacex-to-land-next-astronauts-on-the-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA chooses SpaceX to land next astronauts on the Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Artist\u2019s concept of a Starship on the moon. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA has selected SpaceX to build a spacecraft to land the first astronauts on the Moon since 1972, choosing Elon Musk\u2019s space company over competing proposals from Jeff Bezos\u2019s Blue Origin and the aerospace firm Dynetics, officials announced Friday.<\/p>\n

A derivative of SpaceX\u2019s next-generation Starship vehicle will carry the astronauts to the lunar surface and launch the crew members back off the Moon. Under NASA\u2019s plans, the astronauts will blast off from Earth on the agency\u2019s heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket and fly an Orion capsule to the vicinity of the Moon, then transfer into the Starship for the final leg of the journey to the surface.<\/p>\n

The human-rated lunar lander, which NASA calls the Human Landing System, is one of the final major elements of the agency\u2019s Artemis program to be developed. NASA selected three industrial teams last year to work on lunar lander concepts, culminating in the agency\u2019s selection of SpaceX to build the lander for the first Artemis Moon landing mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I\u2019m very excited, and we are all very excited, to announce that we have awarded SpaceX to continue the development of our integrated Human Landing System,\u201d said Lisa Watson-Morgan, NASA\u2019s HLS program manager at the Marshall Space Flight Center. \u201cSpaceX\u2019s Starship is a fully reusable launch and landing system designed for travel to the Moon and other future destinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a single stage crewed landing system,\u201d Watson-Morgan said. \u201cIt utilizes Earth orbit refueling of liquid oxygen and liquid methane propellants. The system leans on the company\u2019s flight heritage of Dragon and Falcon vehicles. Starship includes a spacious cabin and two airlocks with a great deal of space for our crew, as well as additional payload capability that will permit us to take experiments to the moon, and return samples back, and do all the important science that we want to do on this mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are humbled to help NASA usher in a new era of human space exploration,\u201d SpaceX said in a statement.<\/p>\n

NASA is seeking to land the first astronauts on the Moon since the final Apollo lunar mission in 1972.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the first human lunar lander in 50 years, this innovative Human Landing System will be a hallmark in human space exploration history,\u201d Watson-Morgan said. \u201cAnd we\u2019re going to help write that history.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX beat out a bid from a team led by Blue Origin, who proposed a multi-element spacecraft consisting of stages made by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Blue Origin itself. Draper assisted on the lander\u2019s guidance and avionics systems.<\/p>\n

NASA also worked with Dynetics, an aerospace and defense contractor based in Alabama, on a third human-rated lander concept.<\/p>\n

In the end, NASA selected SpaceX\u2019s Starship for the job of landing the next astronauts on the Moon. The firm-fixed price contract has a total value of $2.89 billion, and covers development of a test flight that will land on the Moon without astronauts on-board, then a demonstration \u2014 known as \u201cOption A\u201d in NASA\u2019s procurement language \u2014 to carry a crew to the Moon\u2019s south pole.<\/p>\n

NASA originally planned to pick multiple companies to continue developing lunar landers, but budget restrictions forced the agency to rethink its strategy. Congress approved $850 million for the Human Landing System program in fiscal year 2021, about a quarter of what NASA requested.<\/p>\n

That limited what NASA could do with the first HLS development contract, but officials said the agency\u2019s \u201cOption A\u201d contract with SpaceX fits within the expected budget. SpaceX\u2019s proposal had the lowest price of all three bids, but NASA and SpaceX still had to rework some of the contracts milestone payments to get the price within the agency\u2019s funding plan.<\/p>\n

With the final agreement complete, NASA said SpaceX will self-fund and assume financial risk for over half of the Starship landing system\u2019s development and testing.<\/p>\n

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A model of SpaceX\u2019s Starship lunar lander at the company\u2019s build site in South Texas. Credit: Stephen Clark\/Spaceflight Now<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Starship is significantly larger than the other human-rated lander concepts NASA evaluated, and can deliver heavier cargo to the Moon. SpaceX\u2019s lander will stand about seven-and-half times taller than the Apollo lunar module that carried astronauts to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scale of SpaceX\u2019s lander architecture presents numerous benefits to NASA,\u201d wrote Kathy Lueders, head of the space agency\u2019s human spaceflight division, in a a source selection statement posted on NASA\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin\u2019s proposal was the second-highest rated in NASA\u2019s procurement process, according to the source selection document.<\/p>\n

Steve Jurczyk, NASA\u2019s acting administrator, said the agency considered the technical parameters, cost, and management of each of the three HLS bidders. While SpaceX won the contract to attempt the Artemis program\u2019s human landing on the Moon, NASA will soon start another competition open for all U.S. companies to bid on a contract for a series of follow-on lunar landings later in the 2020s.<\/p>\n

The commercial mode, where the government and industry share costs, is similar to NASA\u2019s partnership with SpaceX that helped produce the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft, which ferries astronauts to and from the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the evaluation of the three proposals based on technical approach, cost, and management approach, and the budget we have available, we determined the best way forward for us was to select SpaceX for Option A, and then move forward and accelerate the landing services procurement,\u201d Jurczyk said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe awarded the contract with SpaceX given the appropriations we have in FY21 and what we believe are realistic budgets in future years,\u201d Jurczyk said. \u201cSo we believe this is doable within what we have and what we can expect in funding.\u201d<\/p>\n

SpaceX is building and testing Starship prototypes in South Texas. The stainless steel rocket, wider than a Boeing 747 jumbo jet \u2014 is designed for vertical takeoffs and landings, but uses a dramatic flip maneuver to switch from a horizontal \u201cbelly flop\u201d position to an upright orientation just before touchdown.<\/p>\n