Blue Origin has received a potential $3.4 billion contract from NASA to develop a human landing system for the Artemis V lunar mission.
The company said Friday it will work with Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Astrobotic, Draper and Honeybee Robotics to design, develop, test and demonstrate its Blue Moon lander under the firm-fixed-price contract awarded through the Appendix P broad agency announcement of the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships 2 program.
Under Artemis V, NASA’s Space Launch System rocket will transport four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft to the moon’s orbit. Upon docking with the orbiting outpost Gateway, two astronauts will use Blue Moon to travel to the lunar surface’s South Pole region to perform science and exploration work for a week.
Blue Origin said the industry team will develop a lunar lander and a cislunar transporter that will be powered by the LOX-LH2 propellant combination.
“Today we are excited to announce Blue Origin will build a human landing system as NASA’s second provider to deliver Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
In April 2021, NASA awarded SpaceX a potential $2.89 billion contract to develop its Starship lunar lander that would transport two astronauts to the moon’s surface.
