NASA on Friday awarded a contract to SpaceX to build a new capsule for astronauts landing on the moon, the latest in a series of moon-related victories for the company controlled by Elon Musk.
SpaceX has defeated two rivals for the monthly Human Landing System that will transport astronauts to and from the moon’s surface from an orbiting capsule as early as 2024. The contract is part of a larger Artemis program led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to explore and develop deep space. This program is based more on the private sector and trade finance than previous efforts.
The lander agreement adds to the products SpaceX is developing, with recent rounds of funding raising its valuation to nearly $ 100 billion as it tracks a mix of new missiles, space taxis and a series of hundreds of satellites for military and commercial customers.
SpaceX is already flying astronauts on behalf of NASA to and from the International Space Station and is developing a new large rocket called Super Heavy to launch the Starship vehicle on which its monthly lander is based. Starship conducted a series of test flights from Texas, some of which ended in failure after exploding on landing.
NASA plans to use a new rocket produced by Boeing Co. for a monthly mission known as Artemis 1 since November. It would fly around the moon before the Orion crew capsule produced by Lockheed Martin Corp. returns to Earth.