NASA’s new boss says the race is on between SpaceX and Blue Origin to build a moon lander
https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-administrator-jared-isaacman-spacex-blue-origin-moon-lunar-lander-2025-12?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=insider-space-sub-post
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***From Business Insider’s Tom Carter:***
NASA’s new boss has reiterated the stakes for the lunar race between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.
On his first day in the job, Jared Isaacman said the space agency would pick whichever company finished its moon lander first, out of Musk’s SpaceX or Bezos’ Blue Origin.
“I don’t think it was lost on either vendor that whichever lander was available first to ensure that America achieves its strategic objectives on the moon is the one we were going to go with,” Isaacman told Bloomberg TV on Thursday, a day after he was confirmed as NASA administrator by the US Senate.
SpaceX and Blue Origin both hold contracts to build lunar landers for NASA to help carry astronauts to the surface of the moon.
A modified version of SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket is set to be used in 2027 for NASA’s Artemis III mission, which aims to put astronauts back to the moon for the first time in over 50 years.
In October, however, then-acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy reopened SpaceX’s lunar contract, stating that the company was “behind schedule” on its lander and suggesting that NASA could opt for Blue Origin’s spacecraft for the historic mission instead.
[Read more about the lunar race between the two billionaires here.](https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-administrator-jared-isaacman-spacex-blue-origin-moon-lunar-lander-2025-12?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=insider-space-sub-comment)
So Blue Origin has already proposed turning their cargo lander into a crewed lander to speed things up.
But that was contingent on getting funding for a third lunar lander.
Since that doesn’t seem to be happening, it’s still the original crewed Blue Origin lander vs Starship.
It’s certainly possible they can still beat SpaceX, but they don’t seem to be going with their “expedited” plan which they estimated at 3 years. So if this isn’t their expedited plans then the race is still very much contentious.
Interesting. If we make them pay for all of it, the loser will have destroyed a substantial portion of their own wealth. The winner will have paid more than fair market values to win the race at speed. Both destroy their own wealth instead of the country’s wealth to the benefit of the country. The implicit benefit is that if you win, you’ve won the race forever, having created your barrier to entry. We should use this strategy everywhere.
Turning lowest bidder into fastest execution. I wonder how critical safety will be reviewed.
Also Jared won’t be able to fly for three years.
Thought this was already settled?
That’s how it should be. Starship HLS is ideal for lunar base construction but not flags and footprints before China.
As long as it isn’t Lockheed.
So the ploy by Lockheed Martin (and unnamed partners) to take over with a tiny cost-plus lander is dead. Good.
(Unless congresscritters step in to force more funding for their MIC masters.)
Why can’t they replicate the Apollo designs?
So they wanted to throw a bone to Bezos and his failed space adventures. Let him go to the moon, waste of $$ and time.
My money is on Blue Origin.
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|——-|———|—|
|[BO](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuy29dr “Last usage”)|Blue Origin (*Bezos Rocketry*)|
|CST|(Boeing) Crew Space Transportation capsules|
| |Central Standard Time (UTC-6)|
|ETOV|Earth To Orbit Vehicle (common parlance: “rocket”)|
|[HLS](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuy9r60 “Last usage”)|[Human Landing System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_program#Human_Landing_System) (Artemis)|
|[LEM](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuxqok6 “Last usage”)|(Apollo) [Lunar Excursion Module](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Lunar_Module) (also Lunar Module)|
|[LEO](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuybvxy “Last usage”)|Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)|
| |Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)|
|[LLO](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuxwug0 “Last usage”)|Low Lunar Orbit (below 100km)|
|[LV](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuxqok6 “Last usage”)|Launch Vehicle (common parlance: “rocket”), see ETOV|
|[NRHO](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuxsbfv “Last usage”)|Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit|
|[SLS](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuyex2j “Last usage”)|Space Launch System heavy-lift|
|[ULA](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuy2fy6 “Last usage”)|United Launch Alliance (Lockheed/Boeing joint venture)|
|Jargon|Definition|
|——-|———|—|
|[Starliner](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuy2fy6 “Last usage”)|Boeing commercial crew capsule [CST-100](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CST-100_Starliner)|
|[Starlink](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuybvxy “Last usage”)|SpaceX’s world-wide satellite broadband constellation|
|[cryogenic](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuxqok6 “Last usage”)|Very low temperature fluid; materials that would be gaseous at room temperature/pressure|
| |(In re: rocket fuel) Often synonymous with hydrolox|
|hydrolox|Portmanteau: liquid hydrogen fuel, liquid oxygen oxidizer|
|[kerolox](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuybvxy “Last usage”)|Portmanteau: kerosene fuel, liquid oxygen oxidizer|
|[methalox](/r/Space/comments/1pqsj72/stub/nuybvxy “Last usage”)|Portmanteau: methane fuel, liquid oxygen oxidizer|
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I will be exceedingly impressed if BO manages to come within years of SpaceX’s completion. If they pull it off great – but extremely skeptical.
I wonder how many astronauts they are going to sacrifice?
I wonder how many astronauts they are going to sacrifice.
you notice how he doesnt say that they will go with the safest, most reliable lander…. That alone should set off giant alarm bells..
Meanwhile, some competent company is working on it.