With SpaceX\u2019s lunar lander for NASA\u2019s Artemis 3 mission facing significant delays, the agency is looking to competitors who could provide a lander sooner. Blue Origin is a leading contender, but can Jeff Bezos\u2019s company really beat Elon Musk back to the Moon?<\/p>\n
Recent developments suggest it could. Jacqueline Cortese, Blue Origin\u2019s Senior Director of Civil Space, represented the company on a Tuesday panel at the American Astronautical Society\u2019s 2025 von Braun Space Exploration Symposium. During the event, she discussed Blue Origin\u2019s progress on its Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) and Blue Moon Mark 2 (MK2) landers, SpaceflightNow reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to Cortese, Blue Origin could launch an MK1 demonstration mission before the end of the year. MK1 is a cargo lander<\/a> designed to eventually ferry up to 3 tons of payload to the lunar surface. It\u2019s a stepping stone to the MK2 crew lander, which could (theoretically) replace SpaceX\u2019s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) as the Artemis 3 lander\u2014if it\u2019s ready first.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially with MK1 and some of our preceding work we\u2019re doing, we have what we think are some good ideas about maybe a more incremental approach that could be taken advantage of for an acceleration-type scenario,\u201d Cortese said, as SpaceflightNow reports.<\/p>\n SpaceX delays open the door for Blue Origin <\/p>\n SpaceX signed a $2.9 billion contract with NASA in 2021 to provide the first crewed lunar lander for the agency\u2019s Artemis program. Starship HLS\u2014a modified version of the megarocket\u2019s upper stage\u2014is slated to land the Artemis 3 astronauts on the Moon sometime in mid-2027.<\/p>\n After a rough start to Starship\u2019s 2025 launch schedule, however, unmet technical milestones have piled up. Now, experts worry that Starship HLS could be years late<\/a> for a 2027 Artemis 3 Moon landing.<\/p>\n Starship\u2019s challenges largely stem from the fact that it\u2019s the largest, most complex launch vehicle ever built. This presents significant logistical challenges to landing on the Moon\u2014it will literally require an elevator to bring astronauts down to the lunar surface. And as it\u2019s still in the early stages of development, its lunar landing capabilities remain unproven.<\/p>\n During two on-air media appearances last week, acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy said he would reopen the Artemis 3 contract<\/a> to competing spaceflight companies to ensure the U.S. returns to the Moon before the end of President Trump\u2019s term. The announcement seemed to ruffle Musk\u2019s feathers, prompting the SpaceX CEO to hurl insults at Duffy via X<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m going to let other space companies compete with SpaceX, like Blue Origin, and again, whatever one can get us there first, to the Moon, we\u2019re going to take,\u201d Duffy said<\/a> on CNBC.<\/p>\n How Blue Origin could get there faster <\/p>\n The Blue Moon landers offer a level of simplicity Starship HLS just can\u2019t provide. Not only are they based on a largely proven concept, they\u2019re also much smaller, with a lower center of gravity and an easier dismount. What\u2019s more, they\u2019re being built by a massive team of highly equipped engineers across Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Draper, Astrobotic, and Honeybee Robotics.<\/p>\n