Space Agency NASA accused SpaceX of falling behind schedule and admitted that it will allow other companies to compete with Elon Musk's company for the contract, which the latter has already won. It is about the project to deliver astronauts to the Moon, reports Bloomberg. After this message, the shares of space companies, including those not related to the flights to the Moon, rose in price.

Details

NASA is going to allow SpaceX's competitors to participate in the Artemis 3 lunar mission, acting head of the agency Sean Duffy said in an interview with Fox News, which was quoted by several media outlets. SpaceX received from NASA contracts totaling about $4 billion: the company must turn the Starship into a lunar module capable of delivering astronauts to the Earth's satellite as early as 2027.

"I'm working right now to open that contract," Duffy said. - We will have a space race between American companies - who will be the first to return us to the moon." The head of the agency did not specify what exactly means the "opening of the contract" - whether it will be a new competition or, perhaps, a reduction in the funding that SpaceX was to receive, writes Bloomberg. According to Duffy, he expects that Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin may join the program, and possibly "other" players.

"I love SpaceX. It's an amazing company. But the problem is they're behind. They've already pushed their deadlines and we're in a race with China," Duffy told CNBC.

A Blue Origin spokesperson said in response to a Bloomberg inquiry that the company is willing to participate in the mission.

"Blue Origin has never once launched a payload into orbit - let alone to the moon," Elon Musk wrote on social media X.

Which stocks have gone up in price

- Rocket Lab shares rose by 1.6% in Monday trading. The American-New Zealand company produces small rockets Electron and develops heavy rocket Neutron. The SpaceX competitor is engaged in launching small satellites into Earth's orbit.

- Intuitive Machines shares added 4%. The company manufactures lunar landing vehicles and participates in NASA's lunar cargo delivery program.

- Shares of Planet Labs, the operator of the orbital constellation of microsatellites, rose by 3.4%.

- Quotes of AST SpaceMobile, which creates a satellite system for direct communication between smartphones and satellites, jumped 4% in trading, but ended the trading day down 0.8%.

- Shares of Karman, a U.S. manufacturer of components for rockets, satellites and aircraft, rose 4.3%.

- Leidos, which includes defense and aerospace company Dynetics, added 3.2%. It was Dynetics that competed with Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX for the contract to fly the Artemis-3 mission to the moon in 2021.

Context

The inclusion of other participants in the project this late in the manned lunar mission program speaks to a growing unease within President Donald Trump's administration: there is concern in Washington that the U.S. could cede leadership to China in the effort to get humans back to the lunar surface for the first time in more than half a century, according to Bloomberg. Duffy said the SpaceX contract opening will help ensure the U.S. gets ahead of China.

SpaceX won a contract to build a lunar module in 2021, beating out two finalists. In 2023, NASA signed a second contract - with Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin - for $3.4 billion. According to the schedule, Blue Origin's lunar module should deliver people to the moon by 2029, and it is still unclear whether the company will be able to accelerate this process, the agency writes.

In early October, SpaceX conducted another largely successful Starship rocket test. However, the company has a lot of critical technologies to demonstrate and fine-tune before the first mission to the moon - in particular, the ability to refuel Starship in orbit and conduct launches in bursts. This is an extremely ambitious list of tasks, especially considering that SpaceX has yet to perform a full Starship orbital flight.


This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor

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