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CNN: Inside NASA’s Scramble to Find a Backup Moon Plan — and the Wild Ideas Companies Are Pitching
NASA requests expedited lunar lander proposals by Oct 29, 2025, aiming to overcome SpaceX Starship delays and compete with China’s 2030 moon landing goal.
- Facing schedule risk, NASA set an October 29 deadline for SpaceX and Blue Origin to submit expedited plans for Artemis III, which is slated for mid-2027, and noted SpaceX holds a $2.9 billion Starship contract.
- Technical hurdles — including untried cryogenic refueling — have hindered Starship, which has completed 11 suborbital tests but has not yet flown an orbital mission or attempted in-flight refueling in 2023.
- Lockheed Martin proposes assembling a two-stage lunar lander using Orion spacecraft spare parts and OMS-E engines for ascent, leveraging its $20.4 billion Orion heritage.
- NASA has asked industrywide proposals as half a dozen companies told CNN they are ready to help, but with only $10 billion recently added by Congress, funding remains limited.
- With China aiming for a 2030 lunar landing, experts warn new landers take six to seven years, but Doug Loverro says a five-year push could yield a new design.
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Backup plan: Inside NASA’s scramble to get to the moon — and the wild ideas companies are pitching
The space agency is asking the broader commercial space industry to detail how it might get the job done more quickly, hinting that NASA leadership is prepared to sideline SpaceX and Blue Origin.
·Albuquerque, United States
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NASA Seeks Alternative Lunar Transports Amid SpaceX Delays and China Rivalry
In a move underscoring the high stakes of America’s return to lunar exploration, NASA has initiated a search for alternative strategies to transport astronauts to the moon, prompted by persistent delays in SpaceX’s Starship development and intensifying geopolitical rivalry with China’s ambitious space program. The agency, aiming to land humans on the lunar surface by the late 2020s under its Artemis program, is now soliciting proposals from the …
Coverage Details
Total News Sources15
Leaning Left1Leaning Right0Center12Last UpdatedBias Distribution92% Center
Bias Distribution
- 92% of the sources are Center
92% Center
C 92%
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