NASA’s announcement that Space X will be allowed to build the rocket that will take the astronauts and 100 tons of cargo from Earth to the moon came on Friday. Thus, the US space agency Nasa eliminated the competitors Amazon founder Jeff Bezos Blue Origin and Dynetics Inc, writes Washington Post.
The lunar journey, which thus becomes the first since Apollo 17 left the moon in December 1972, is scheduled to be completed in 2024.
The Space X lunar spacecraft differs in many ways from the Apollo voyages where a Saturn V rocket lifted a command and service module to an orbit around the earth where they then began the journey towards the moon. Once there, two astronauts from the crew continued down to the lunar surface in a lunar lander.
Space X rymdraket Starship will take the crew all the way down to the lunar surface where the rocket will land and then take off when the mission on the moon is completed.
The announcement comes on the same day that four astronauts are preparing to be launched into the International Space Station, ISS, on April 22 aboard the Space X rocket Crew Dragon. The four are all veterans: Shane Kimbrough (189 days in space), Megan McArthur (12 days in space), Akihiko Hoshide (140 days in space) and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet (196 days in space).
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