Quoted By:
Nasa chose SpaceX to build the lunar module (12.4.2021.)
The lunar flight planned for 2024 is intended to use the SpaceX prototyped Starship
The United States space administration Nasa has chosen SpaceX to build the lunar module, which will take Americans back on the surface of the Moon as a part of the Artemis program.
According to the Washington Post, SpaceX beat out Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics in the bidding. The contract is said to be worth 2.9 billion dollars.
Nasa's decision can be seen as a considerable show of trust toward SpaceX, since usually before while hiring from the private sector, Nasa has hired multiple companies incase one were to fail.
The cooperation between Nasa and billionaire Elon Musk has shown to bare fruit before. The company's Crew Dragon spaceship is due to complete its second manned flight to the international space station ISS next week.
SpaceX completed the first private manned spaceflight to the ISS last year. Along with it the United States could, for the first time in a decade, send astronauts to orbit from their own country.
After the final flight of the retired shuttle program in 2011, the US had been dependent on Russia's Soyuz rockets.
In the plans for the 2024 Artemis lunar flight, SpaceX's prototype vessel Starship is to be used, which is designed to carry a large crew and land on Earth and other celestial bodies.
Starship's development so far hasn't gone off without a hitch. Four prototypes have already exploded in testing.
According to Nasa's current plan, astronauts will travel on the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft to Gateway, a space station to be built in lunar orbit, where a Starship would already be waiting. The astronauts would transfer over to SpaceX's ship, which would take them to the lunar surface.
