Like a commuter checking Uber availability while waiting for a delayed bus, NASA might turn to SpaceX’s competitors to help it get humans back to the moon.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CNBC yesterday that SpaceX is behind schedule on its $3 billion NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon using its jumbo Starship rocket—and said the space agency will consider other companies for the mission now slated for 2028. Duffy mentioned Jeff Bezos’s rocket-maker Blue Origin as a potential contender.
SpaceX rivals’ shares popped on the news: Rocket Lab was up 1.6%, Intuitive Machines rose 4%, and Karman soared 4.3%.
Moonshot misfires
SpaceX is a key player in NASA’s Artemis III mission to beat China’s goal of sending humans to explore the potentially resource-rich south pole of the moon by 2030. But the Star-Spangled Banner’s lunar ETA keeps going up:
- SpaceX’s work-in-progress Starship exploded in three of the last five test flights.
- Critics also blame deadline slippage on SpaceX’s experimental flight plan—which includes refueling Starship during midflight and a risky lunar landing of a 165-foot rocket.
Looking ahead…Some former NASA officials say they don’t expect Space X to be ready for Artemis III before 2032, according to the New York Times.—SK