NASA partners with Blue Origin to send astronauts to the Moon

According to the signed contract, billionaire Jeff Bezos' company is tasked with sending NASA astronauts to the Moon and then returning them to Earth.

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NASA partners with Blue Origin to send astronauts to the Moon. (Source: nasa.gov)

On May 19, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed a $3.4 billion contract with space exploration company Blue Origin, under which Blue Origin will design, test and develop a lander for the Artemis 5 lunar exploration mission.

“Today, we are pleased to announce that Blue Origin – as NASA’s second supplier – will build a system to help bring astronauts to the surface of the Moon under the Artemis program,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

“We are in a golden age of human spaceflight, made possible by NASA’s commercial and international partnerships. Together, we are investing in the infrastructure that will pave the way for sending the first astronauts to Mars.”

Under the contract, billionaire Jeff Bezos' company is tasked with sending NASA astronauts to the Moon and then returning them to Earth. Blue Origin will first conduct an unmanned lunar mission to demonstrate the capabilities of its lander, followed by a human flight to the planet, scheduled for 2029.

A handful of private companies, such as Elon Musk's SpaceX and Bezos' Blue Origin, are trying to play a bigger role in space exploration and competing for lucrative contracts from the US government.

In April 2021, NASA signed a $2.89 billion contract with SpaceX to develop a lunar landing system to send two astronauts to the planet on the Artemis 3 mission. Blue Origin also participated in the bidding on this occasion, but was eliminated.

In 2022, NASA again selected SpaceX for the Artemis 4 mission, but left the door open for other companies to participate to "increase competition." This time, Blue Origin was given the opportunity.

Sharing on Twitter about this new partnership milestone, billionaire Bezos said he was "honored to accompany NASA to send astronauts to the Moon".

According to the plan, Blue Origin will coordinate with 5 other partners - including: 2 defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Boeing, spacecraft software company Draper and 2 robotics companies Astrobotic and Honeybee Robotics - to build the 16m high Blue Moon lander.

While SpaceX’s Starship has a sci-fi look, Blue Origin’s Blue Moon has a classic look. Both companies’ landers are reusable.

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