Elon Musk's commercial space flight company, SpaceX, shared an expedited timeline of its Lunar mission goals amid uncertainty over NASA's Artemis contracts.
SpaceX's Expedited Lunar Timeline
The company shared updates on its official website on Thursday, sharing that the development of the mission was moving at "a historically rapid pace" before touting the Starship's ability to be refilled with propellant in orbit as well as its large size, which made it an ideal candidate for lunar exploration.
The company also said that Starship has a 600 cubic meter pressurized habitable volume, "roughly two-thirds the pressurized volume of the entire International Space Station." SpaceX said that it is developing Starship in parallel paths, a core concept configuration for Mars exploration as well as a lunar lander, tailored to NASA's requirements for the Artemis mission.
"SpaceX is working under a fixed-price contract with NASA, ensuring that the company is only paid after the successful completion of progress milestones, and American taxpayers are not on the hook for increased SpaceX costs," the company said. SpaceX added in its statement that the company would bring the "United States back to the Moon before any other nation and it will enable sustainable lunar operations," using the Starship rocket.
Talking about the Artemis mission specifically, the company said that it has completed over 49 milestones tied to the lander's development, including "Micrometeoroid and orbital debris testing of shielding, insulation, and window panels" and "Lunar environmental control and life support and thermal control system demonstrations."
The company touts ship-to-ship transfer of propellant as the next step in the development of the Starship, as well as longer-duration flights, both of which are scheduled for 2026.
"SpaceX shares the goal of returning to the Moon as expeditiously as possible, approaching the mission with the same alacrity and commitment that returned human spaceflight capability to America under NASA's Commercial Crew program," the company said, adding that Starship remains a key enabler of permanent human presence on the Moon.
Elon Musk, in a post on social media platform X on Thursday, said that Starship was designed to carry "over 100 people" into space.
Sean Duffy Vs Elon Musk Over Artemis Contracts
The updates from SpaceX come as Sean Duffy, the current acting administrator of NASA, recently shared that SpaceX was doing incredible things, but it was "behind schedule" in the development of the Artemis mission, scheduled for 2027. Duffy also hinted at the possibility of other companies placing bids for the Artemis mission.
Duffy's comments brought some choice words out of Musk, calling the administrator a person with "2 digit IQ" as well as accusing Duffy of trying to "kill NASA" in a series of social media posts.
Jared Isaacman's NASA Bid, Blue Origin Touts New Glenn
Meanwhile, Musk's close ally and billionaire Jared Isaacman, who is the CEO of Shift4 Payments Inc. (NASDAQ:FOUR), is reportedly back in contention for the NASA administrator job after being snubbed by President Donald Trump over Isaacman's previous political associations.
Elsewhere, Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin successfully conducted the New Glenn rocket's hotfire at LC-36. The company had previously showcased a new booster stage for the vehicle in the run-up to the NS-36 launch.
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