SpaceX officially won a contract from NASA that will have it developing the first ever commercial human lander for the Artemis series of missions.
This means that Elon’s space company will be producing the “Starship” human landing system. The new rocket will carry a combination of crew, supplies, and equipment for its first mission that’s currently planned for 2024.
The mission in question will have the astronauts enter space using NASA’s “Space Launch System” on the Orion spacecraft and then transfer to Starship, which will place them safely on the moon.
NASA’s associate administrator for human explorations and operations mission directorate Kathy Lueders described what it meant for SpaceX to receive the contract:
With this award, NASA and our partners will complete the first crewed demonstration mission to the surface of the Moon in the 21st century as the agency takes a step forward for women’s equality and long-term deep space exploration. This critical step puts humanity on a path to sustainable lunar exploration and keeps our eyes on missions farther into the solar system, including Mars.
Is it bad that we’re already on the edge of our seat for something that’s going to happen in 2024?