NASA chooses Blue Origin, by Jeff Bezos, to go to the Moon with Artemis mission

The POT has chosen the Blue Origin aerospace company, owned by magnate Jeff Bezos, to develop a landing system that allows astronauts to be taken to the Moon under the Artemis mission.

It is the second contract that the US space agency awards to develop the technology that will allow humanity to set foot on the lunar surface again, after in 2021 it gave the first to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, valued at almost US$ 3,000 million ( almost 2,774 million euros).

Specifically, Blue Origin will develop a “human landing system” for the mission Artemis V that will allow two astronauts to travel from the orbit of the Moon to the surface of the satellite, where they will be for a week carrying out “scientific and exploration activities”, according to a statement from the POT.

The contract of SpaceX it also contemplated the development of a landing system, which will be used in the Artemis III and IV missions.

The US agency defended that having two different designs will give greater robustness and ensure a higher rate of trips to the Moon.

“Together, we are investing in the infrastructure that will pave the way to get the first astronauts to Mars.”, explained the administrator of the POT, bill nelson.

Last April, the US space agency, together with the Canadian CSA, announced the members of the Artemis II mission, a woman and three men who will fly around the Moon in November 2024 in what will be the beginning of a new space age with Mars in sight.

The ten-day mission around the Moon will have as commander reid wiseman and Víctor Glover as pilot, while the astronaut will go as mission specialists Christina Hammock Koch and Jeremy Hansenthe latter from the CSA.

The POT foresees by 2025 the sending of the first manned mission of the program Artemis to land on the satellite.

Source: EFE