NASA Administrator Bill Nelson got a look late last month at what Blue Origin is building in Huntsville, Alabama, to take us to the surface of the moon. Blue Moon, as Jeff Bezos’ commercial space company Blue Origin has named it, is one of two lunar landers selected and purchased by NASA (SpaceX is the other) for more money than most of us will ever see in a lifetime: $3.4 billion. Right now, we’re still working toward launching Artemis II, which is expected to send astronauts around the moon and back to Earth, not to the moon. Artemis III is supposed to be the first landing of astronauts on the moon using SpaceX’s lunar lander - the mega-rocket Starship. And I continue to track NASA’s SLS as the Artemis I Moon Rocket is readied for rollout and first flight.

Source: The Nation November 06, 2023 15:33 UTC