NASA has awarded $45.5m to a range of US companies in its efforts to get back onto the Moon. The goal is for the first woman on the Moon and the next man to be American astronauts. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will study one descent element and one transfer vehicle, while also developing a transfer vehicle prototype. Boeing is working on pretty much everything, with prototypes of two descent ideas, one transfer vehicle and one refuelling element and studies on the lot. The other companies are Aerojet Rocketdyne, Dynetics, Lockheed Martin, Masten Space Systems, Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, OrbitBeyone, Sierra Nevada Corporation and SSL.

Source: Forbes May 17, 2019 18:45 UTC