Since April 2021, we know that the NASA chose the vehicle SpaceX Starship as a means of transport take its astronauts to the surface of the Moon. This event will take place during the mission Artemis 3 which is scheduled to take off in 2025 if all goes as planned. Now the US space agency has announced that SpaceX will also be in charge of transporting astronauts on the lunar surface during the mission Artemis 4.
Last September, NASA decided to launch a call for other companies wishing to provide another lunar lander to astronauts. The purpose of this maneuver is to implement redundancy and resilience for the lunar program. SpaceX was not allowed to submit its application to respond to this call, but NASA officials said at the time that they were considering using an option in the company’s contract to award it other assignments.
On Tuesday, November 15, NASA officially invoked this “Option B” and chose the Starship as the means of transporting astronauts to the surface of the Moon in 2027.
Pending the establishment of a regular service
According to Lisa Watson-Morgan, program manager Human Landing System With NASA, continued collaborative efforts with SpaceX through Option B will advance the agency’s plans for regular crew transport to the lunar surface. This will also be the case for the establishment of a long-term human presence on the Moon.
Watson-Morgan added that this critical work will help them focus on developing durable lunar landers that meet NASA’s requirements for regular lunar surface missions.
For his part, Elon Musk, the boss of SpaceX, did not fail to express his enthusiasm. He indicated in a tweet that this choice was appreciated and that “SpaceX was not going to let NASA down”.
The Starship still in development
Currently, SpaceX is still working on its new Starship vehicle. But we can expect rapid progress very soon. Indeed, the company is preparing to send your ship into orbit for the first time. If Elon Musk’s latest tweets are to be believed, the launch could happen before the end of this year.
For its part, NASA is making progress in its Artemis program. The first Artemis 1 mission has just been launched, and the Orion capsule is currently on its way to the Moon. We can say that the next few months promise to be very interesting for space exploration fans.
SOURCE: Space.com
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