NASA picks Blue Origin to make a second human-crewed lunar lander

NASA has picked Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to make a lunar lander for an upcoming Artemis mission to the Moon, the agency announced on Friday. As part of the $3.4 billion contract, there will be one uncrewed “demonstration mission” ahead of a human-crewed demo that’s set to take place in 2029 for the Artemis V mission, according to a press release.

Currently, the plan for the Artemis V mission is for four astronauts to first fly to the Gateway space station on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft. Then, two astronauts will go to the Moon on Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander for “about a weeklong trip to the Moon’s South Pole region,” NASA said.

“Adding another human landing system partner to NASA’s Artemis program will increase competition, reduce costs to taxpayers, support a regular cadence of lunar landings, further invest in the lunar economy, and help NASA achieve its goals on and around the Moon in preparation for future astronaut missions to Mars,” NASA said.