TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The United States Aviation and Space Agency (NASA) awarded a contract worth US $ 2.9 billion (Rp.421 trillion) to SpaceX. The contract is to build a spacecraft to get astronauts to the Moon as quickly as possible by 2024.
SpaceX belongs to Elon Musk get rid of two competitors, Blue Origin led by Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and Dynetics Inc., a defense contracting company. Bezos and Musk – Forbes’ first and third richest people in the world – are competing to lead a project to bring humans back to the Moon for the first time after 1972.
Musk submitted his own SpaceX bid while Bezos partnered with Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and Draper. While Dynetics is a unit of Leidos Holdings Inc. “NASA Rules!! ” Musk wrote on his Twitter account after the announcement from NASA, Friday, April 16, 2021.
NASA awarded a contract for the first commercial human lander, part of the Artemis Program. The company says the lander will bring two American astronauts to the lunar surface.
“We must complete the next landing as quickly as possible,” said Steve Jurczyk, acting NASA administrator, in the announcement via videoconference.
NASA says the SpaceX Starship includes a spacious cabin and two airlocks for astronauts to walk on the Moon. The architecture is expected to develop into a fully reusable launch and landing system for trips to the Moon, Mars, and other purposes in space.
“If they are able to reach the fastest deadline, we have the first chance in 2024,” Jurczyk added.
SpaceX also responded on Twitter by writing, “We are humbly helping @NASAArtemis usher in a new era of human space exploration.”
In contrast to the Apollo landings from 1969 to 1972 — the only human visit to the lunar surface — NASA was preparing for a long-term mission that it envisioned as a stepping stone to an even more ambitious plan: sending astronauts to Mars.
NASA relies heavily on private companies built with a shared vision for space exploration. “SpaceX will be required to conduct a test landing flight to the Moon before humans travel,” said NASA official Lisa Watson-Morgan.
NASA also plans to select astronauts who will be sent with the SpaceX spacecraft from the end of April. Only last Thursday, NASA also said it would send its crew to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX rocket. Launch schedule for April 22nd.
NASA created regular service opportunities to the Moon and said it would create a separate contract from the one SpaceX had already won. “We need to be able to provide repeat lunar services,” said Mark Kirasich, Deputy Administrator for NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Division.
REUTERS | THE VERGE
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