Overview
- Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said Starship’s schedule is slipping and the agency will seek bids beyond SpaceX for the lunar lander.
- Duffy publicly named Blue Origin as a potential competitor, and reporting indicates Lockheed Martin is expected to assemble an industry team.
- The procurement shift introduces direct competition among U.S. firms to accelerate a crewed return to the lunar surface.
- Elon Musk reacted on X by mocking Duffy and asserted that SpaceX and Starship remain central to future lunar missions.
- The Artemis timeline targets a crewed lunar flyby in early 2026 (Artemis II) and a landing attempt in 2027 (Artemis III), following NASA’s 2021 $4.4 billion award to SpaceX.