Aerospace company Blue Origin has received an award to develop a human landing system for NASA's Artemis V mission to the Moon, the agency announced on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th May, 2023) Aerospace company Blue Origin has received an award to develop a human landing system for NASA's Artemis V mission to the Moon, the agency announced on Friday.
"Blue Origin will design, develop, test, and verify its Blue Moon lander to meet NASA's human landing system requirements for recurring astronaut expeditions to the lunar surface, including docking with Gateway, a space station where crew transfer in lunar orbit," the agency explained in the release. "In addition to design and development work, the contract includes one uncrewed demonstration mission to the lunar surface before a crewed demo on the Artemis V mission in 2029."
NASA revealed that the award value of the contract stands at $3.4 billion.
"For the Artemis V mission, NASA's SLS (Space Launch System) rocket will launch four astronauts to lunar orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft," the release added. "Once Orion docks with Gateway, two astronauts will transfer to Blue Origin's human landing system for about a week long trip to the Moon's South Pole region where they will conduct science and exploration activities."
Currently the US Artemis program plans to return astronauts to the surface of the Moon in 2025. President Joe Biden's 2024 proposed budget requests more than $8 billion for the Artemis program, which plans to accelerate to annual crewed missions to the surface of the Moon starting with Artemis IV in 2028.
