NASA says SpaceX, Blue Origin submitted new Moon mission plans

SpaceX says it has proposed a “simplified mission” to send astronauts back to the moon to NASA, following criticism from the space agency’s acting administrator Sean Duffy about delays.

in a company blog post “We have shared and are formally evaluating a simplified mission architecture and concept of operations that we believe will enable a faster return to the Moon while also improving crew safety,” Elon Musk’s aerospace and defense contractor said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Duffy said in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box that SpaceX is behind schedule on building the Moon landing system for NASA. Artemis III’s mission and the agency was rumored to reopen landing contracts for that mission to competitors like Jeff Bezos’ rocket maker Blue Origin.

A NASA spokesperson said in an email to CNBC that the agency is “receiving and evaluating plans from both SpaceX and Blue Origin to accelerate HLS production.”

“Following the closing, the agency will issue an RFI for its proposals to the broader aviation industry,” the spokesperson said. “A committee of NASA subject matter experts is meeting to evaluate each proposal and determine the best path forward to win the second space race, given the urgency of hostile threats to peace and transparency on the Moon.”

NASA had previously said SpaceX and Blue Origin would have until October 29 to propose new ways to speed up the project.

Musk initially responded to Duffy by sending a post to: his social network“Sean Dummy is trying to kill NASA!” Inside another article Musk wrote: “The person responsible for America’s space program cannot have a 2-digit IQ.”

SpaceX’s massive Starship has made 11 uncrewed test flights so far. The last two flights were deemed successful, but the company has yet to demonstrate the full on-orbit refueling capabilities it needs before launching its manned lunar mission, Artemis III.

Blue Origin is developing a lunar lander for NASA and has received about $835 million from the space agency since its contracts began in 2023. The company plans to launch a smaller-scale version of the lander known as Blue Moon Mark 1.

Meanwhile, China aims to land its astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade.

In September, in all meetings with NASA employees, Duffy told his staff he was disturbed by the “shade being thrown” at the space agency at a Senate hearing in which some participants doubted that the United States could send astronauts back to the Moon before landing Chinese astronauts there.

In addition to the moon mission, China announced that it will send a new team to its orbiting laboratory, the Tiangong space station, this week. China built this space station after the United States blocked access to the International Space Station due to national security concerns.

SpaceX pays when it reaches different milestones under NASA’s HLS (human landing system integrated lander) contract.

Accordingly US SpendingNASA, which pursues federal contracts, has already paid SpaceX about $2.7 billion for “design, development, manufacturing, testing, launch, demonstration and engineering support” of HLS. The agency is obligated to pay about another $300 million for the milestones SpaceX reaches, and Musk’s company will make a total of $4.5 billion (or another $1.5 billion) from the HLS contract if they hit all the milestones.

SpaceX said in a company blog post today that they are “self-funding” 90% or more of the program, meaning they’ve already spent more than $30 billion.

As CNBC previously reported, some NASA employees were required to work unpaid for the space agency during the federal government shutdown if their jobs supported Artemis missions.

SpaceX and Blue Origin did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.