NASA opens SpaceX's moon lander contract to rivals over Starship delays [View all]
Source: Reuters
October 20, 2025 6:58 PM EDT Updated 10 hours ago
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - NASA said on Monday it was opening the marquee U.S. moon landing contract to other bidders because Elon Musk's SpaceX has experienced mounting delays with its Starship lunar lander. The move paves the way for rivals such as Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to snatch a high-profile mission to land the first astronauts on the moon in half a century.
"I'm in the process of opening that contract up. I think we'll see companies like Blue get involved, and maybe others," the U.S. space agency's acting chief Sean Duffy, who also serves as U.S. Transportation Secretary, told Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program.
Duffy's comments follow months of mounting pressure within NASA to speed up its Artemis lunar program and push SpaceX to make greater progress on its Starship lunar lander, while China progresses toward its own goal of sending humans to the moon by 2030.
It represents a major shift in NASA's lunar strategy, starting a new competitive juncture in the program for a crewed moon lander just two years before the scheduled landing date. Blue Origin is widely expected to compete for the mission, while Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) has indicated it would convene an industry team to heed NASA's call.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/science/us-seek-rival-bids-artemis-3-spacex-lags-nasa-chief-says-2025-10-20/
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