Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' Company, Chosen to Build Lunar Lander for NASA's Moon Mission

Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' Company, Chosen to Build Lunar Lander for NASA's Moon Mission

Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has been awarded the contract to build a lunar lander. This will pave the way for humans to set foot on the moon once again in the coming years. The contract is worth $3.4 billion, equivalent to 3.15 billion euros.

On May 19, 2023, the United States space agency NASA announced its selection of Blue Origin for this crucial project. The lander, named Blue Moon, will first undertake an unmanned test flight to the moon. If successful, it will be ready to carry humans.

The plan is for the manned mission, called Artemis V, to be the third journey to the moon's surface and is scheduled for 2029. Four astronauts will fly to a space station in lunar orbit aboard a spacecraft. From there, two of them will transfer to the Blue Moon lander and descend to the moon's South Pole. They will conduct scientific research there for a week before returning to Earth via the space station.

It is worth noting that NASA is already collaborating with Elon Musk's SpaceX. SpaceX is responsible for building the lunar lander for the first two manned missions to the moon, Artemis III (expected by the end of 2025) and Artemis IV (currently planned for 2028). Artemis I, an unmanned test flight, was conducted at the end of last year. In Artemis II, scheduled for next year, four individuals will fly around the moon and return to Earth.

Blue Origin was founded in 2000 and has been offering commercial spaceflights to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere for some time. In July 2021, the company successfully launched its first manned flight, with Bezos himself and 18-year-old Dutch student Oliver Daemen on board. They reached an altitude of 107 kilometers, which qualifies as being in space. Blue Origin has plans to establish its own space station, called the Orbital Reef, within a few years. The station will be open for paid visits by individuals interested in experiencing space travel firsthand.

The selection of Blue Origin for the lunar lander project marks an important milestone in the return of human exploration to the moon. With the combined efforts of Blue Origin, SpaceX, and NASA, the dream of venturing back to our celestial neighbor is becoming a reality. As technology advances and partnerships flourish, humanity's understanding of the moon and the universe beyond will undoubtedly expand, opening up new frontiers for scientific discovery and space exploration.

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