Blue Origin to develop human landing system for NASA's Artemis V Moon mission

NASA has selected Blue Origin to develop a human landing system for the highly anticipated Artemis V mission to the Moon, the agency announced on Friday.

Blue Origin will be responsible for designing, developing, testing, and verifying its innovative Blue Moon lander to meet NASA's stringent requirements for recurring astronaut expeditions to the Moon. This includes docking with Gateway - a mini space station in lunar orbit that will serve as a crucial transfer point for crew members.

"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. We are in a golden age of human spaceflight, which is made possible by NASA's commercial and international partnerships. Together, we are making an investment in the infrastructure that will pave the way to land the first astronauts on Mars," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

We selected @BlueOrigin to develop the human landing system for the #Artemis V mission. This component for deep space transportation will help us in our goal of sending astronauts to the surface of the Moon and returning them home safely: https://t.co/KMq5fUn0ll pic.twitter.com/mpfUjWr6OX

— NASA (@NASA) May 19, 2023

NASA had previously awarded a contract to SpaceX to demonstrate a human landing system for the Artemis III mission. As part of this contract, the agency directed SpaceX to refine and enhance its design to align with the agency's requirements for sustainable exploration on the Moon. Additionally, SpaceX was tasked with demonstrating the capabilities of their lander during the Artemis IV mission.

"Having two distinct lunar lander designs, with different approaches to how they meet NASA's mission needs, provides more robustness and ensures a regular cadence of Moon landings," said Lisa Watson-Morgan, manager, Human Landing System Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

NASA's Artemis program is an ambitious endeavour aimed at sending astronauts back to the Moon, including the first woman and first person of color, for scientific exploration, economic opportunities, and the establishment of a foundation for future crewed missions to Mars.