Hi friends in space, it’s Erik von Ancken.
It’s real, and it’s happening. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson got a look late last month at what Blue Origin is building in Huntsville, Alabama, to take us to the surface of the moon.
Blue Moon, as Jeff Bezos’ commercial space company Blue Origin has named it, is one of two lunar landers selected and purchased by NASA (SpaceX is the other) for more money than most of us will ever see in a lifetime: $3.4 billion.
Nelson tweeted pictures of himself and Bezos standing in front of the lander prototype, which is larger than any past lander because the rocket taking it to space will be larger that any past rocket.
It’s impressive, for sure. And if it all works, it’ll dock with NASA’s moon-orbiting space station (Gateway), transfer astronauts from Gateway to the lander, ferry the astronauts down to the surface of the moon and then whisk them back up to Gateway.
But not until 2029. At the earliest.
Keep in mind, NASA’s plans call for Blue Origin’s lander to be used in the Artemis V mission 🚀. Right now, we’re still working toward launching Artemis II, which is expected to send astronauts around the moon and back to Earth, not to the moon. Artemis II has been pushed back to end of 2024. At the earliest.
Artemis III is supposed to be the first landing of astronauts on the moon using SpaceX’s lunar lander - the mega-rocket Starship. That’s still officially scheduled for late 2025. At the earliest. But Starship hasn’t even flown successfully and is light years away from the safe transport of humans into space, much less down to the surface of the moon.
Will we ever get there? Sure, with enough money and determination. We can build the technology. But will the American people have the patience and interest to keep paying for it? That’s what will ultimately decide if we ever get there.
📧 Have any topics you’d like to discuss? Send me an email here.
👋 Here’s a little bit about me.
I’ve covered space for News 6 beginning in the days after Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry in 2003.
Since then, I’ve been at Kennedy Space Center reporting on nearly every space shuttle launch and the retirement of the shuttle program with Atlantis’ final flight in 2011.
I’ve climbed aboard Shuttle Atlantis’ flight deck and flown twice with the Air Force Thunderbirds in an F-16.
I’ve also reported on the rebirth of KSC and the Space Coast, covering the first SpaceX cargo missions to the International Space Station, leading up to the first crewed launch to the ISS in nearly a decade when the newest American-made rocket with American astronauts blasted off from American soil.
And I continue to track NASA’s SLS as the Artemis I Moon Rocket is readied for rollout and first flight.
I was at KSC when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos first announced his plans to bring his Blue Origin space tourism company to the Space Coast and reported from Long Beach, Calif., on up-and-coming aerospace tech, including Virgin Orbit.
I’ve interviewed Elon Musk one-on-one, and I very much look forward to speaking with you every week.