{"id":21325,"date":"2025-10-27T01:41:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T17:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-opens-up-artemis-3-landing-to-blue-origin-as-spacex-falls-behind\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T01:41:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T17:41:24","slug":"nasa-opens-up-artemis-3-landing-to-blue-origin-as-spacex-falls-behind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-opens-up-artemis-3-landing-to-blue-origin-as-spacex-falls-behind\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA opens up Artemis 3 landing to Blue Origin as SpaceX falls behind"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"img-border featured-image wp-block-image--obfuscated\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=985\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=320&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=640&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1024&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1500&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1500w\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-attachment-id=\"28802\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/2022\/03\/13\/new-images-of-spacexs-starship-hls-plans-booster-7-stacked-environmental-assessment-looming\/starship-hls\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" data-orig-size=\"985,554\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"Starship HLS\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\n\n<p>Image: SpaceX<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=985&#8243;><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\tImage: SpaceX\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blue Origin may just have a shot at taking away SpaceX\u2019s prized Artemis 3 crewed lunar landing, as the company has fallen behind its goals to get an HLS Starship variant ready for a 2027 attempt. Now NASA is looking at new options that may be able to get a lander ready faster.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-43778\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said on CNBC Monday that it is looking to open up companies to bid on beating SpaceX at its own game, moving faster than anyone else for the ability to land astronauts on the lunar surface in Artemis 3.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI love SpaceX; it\u2019s an amazing company. The problem is, they\u2019re behind\u2026 and we\u2019re in a race against China. So I\u2019m going to open up the contract. I\u2019m going to let other space companies compete with SpaceX,\u201d Duffy said on CNBC Squawk Box.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While this isn\u2019t 100% official yet, the agency is planning to take the proposal and submit a proper Request for Proposals for companies to bid. One company that Duffy named that they\u2019d like to hear from is Blue Origin, a bitter rival of SpaceX that is also in the Human Landing System running with its Blue Moon lander; however, for later missions than Artemis 3.<\/p>\n<p>\t<span class=\"outbrain-ad-label\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<script type=\"text\/plain\">\n\t\t\twindow.adSlotsConfig = window.adSlotsConfig || [];<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tadSlotsConfig.push( {\n\t\t\t\tslotID: '\/1049447\/Outbrain',\n\t\t\t\tslotName: 'div-gpt-ad-outbrain-ad-43778',\n\t\t\t\tsizes: [300, 250],\n\t\t\t\tslotPosition: 'mid_article'\n\t\t\t} );\n\t\t<\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SpaceX won the Artemis HLS landing contract back in 2021 with a value of $2.9 billion. A chunk of that has already been paid out to SpaceX for work toward getting Starship development up and running and for the development of a lunar landing variant of the rocket.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NASA and SpaceX have showcased the work under this contract with views of inside mockups and simulators both at SpaceX\u2019s Hawthorne and Starbase facilities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, delays throughout 2025 have seemingly eroded the agency\u2019s trust in Starship being ready on time for the 2027 launch timetable.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-space-explored-s-take\">Space Explored\u2019s Take<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you\u2019ve been following the industry as a whole over the year, this change of heart in SpaceX shouldn\u2019t be a massive surprise. After each hiccup during a Starship test flight, rumbles of concern from NASA came to light about the company\u2019s ability to meet its contract\u2019s timeline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s been reported that NASA\u2019s historically delayed and over-budget Space Launch System rocket, the means of transportation for the crew of Artemis 3, is no longer the leading problem for the mission\u2019s timeline; it is now Starship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even with Starship\u2019s recent success on the final Starship Version 2 vehicle, the company is still not out of the woods yet in getting the vehicle ready for a landing on the Moon by 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SpaceX has to not just test and validate an entirely new vehicle design on expendable launches; it then has to learn how to reuse it rapidly, invent a way to refuel the massive lander in orbit (which has never been done before), and build and test HLS Starship vehicles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Artemis 3\u2019s 2027 launch date is likely a pipe dream for multiple reasons, Starship could very well be years away from being able to land on the Moon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, with NASA opening up Artemis 3 to companies like Blue Origin and even Lockheed Martin, 2027 could be back in play; however, this process opens up new concerns of its own.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-is-nasa-moving-too-fast-with-crew-safety\">Is NASA moving too fast with crew safety?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Acting Administrator Duffy very clearly said during his CNBC interview that they are looking for the fastest option, not the best or safest: \u201cWhatever one can get us there first\u2026 we\u2019re going to take.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While I don\u2019t doubt NASA\u2019s promise to crew safety, as it has shown it stands by during the development of its Commercial Crew Program vehicles, when someone is in a \u201crace\u201d and feels like they\u2019re losing, blinders can be placed on crucial problem-solving individuals, leading to mistakes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NASA needs to remember that this \u201crace\u201d Congress has stated we are in with China in getting to the Moon was won back in 1969 with the Apollo landings. NASA has been to the Moon and should at least act like it has done this before.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A fast and loose mission to beat China may not be needed if it means still being able to beat China\u2019s 2030 deadline with a safe and reasonable new landing provider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21325"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}