Nasa remains committed to Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin as its “plan A” choice for returning humans to the Moon, despite a significant launchpad explosion earlier this year.
Space agency chief Jared Isaacman praised the Amazon billionaire’s company for making “great progress” since the May incident. He indicated that he would not start “getting nervous” until mid-2027, though he confirmed that alternative options are also under consideration.
His remarks followed an announcement from Blue Origin chief executive Dave Limp, who stated the company would forgo rebuilding the damaged launchpad. Instead, a new launch configuration will be adopted, with the aim of getting the New Glenn rocket airborne again this year.
Blue Origin is slated to play a crucial foundational role in the ambitious long-term goal of establishing a permanent lunar base.
This includes the Artemis III mission, scheduled for launch next year, which would see four astronauts test low Earth orbit docking procedures between the Orion spacecraft and commercial lunar landers, developed by Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, that are due to take humans to the lunar surface in 2028.
But this and the future moon base development rely in large part on the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket, which detonated during an engine-firing test at the end of May.
However, giving an update on the lunar project, Mr Isaacman said: “Some time has gone by since the anomaly and Blue Origin’s response to the situation is almost beyond impressive.”
He added: “They’re making great progress. They are very committed to getting back in the business of launching New Glenn before the end of the year.
“We’ve got time beyond that point into 2027 before we’re getting nervous.”
Mr Isaacman continued: “Nasa does not sit on our hands and wait for hardware to show up.
“It would be almost irresponsible with the importance of the moon base… not to have plan Bs.
“But plan A was always New Glenn, and plan A is looking a lot better today than it was weeks ago, just based on the progress that the Blue Origin team is making.”
Nasa’s moon base programme manager, Carlos Garcia-Galan, said: “We’re working with Blue Origin very closely to understand their timelines to recovery, and also looking at other options in case it doesn’t meet our timeline, so we’re paying a lot of attention again, putting the entire Nasa capability at the service of making this vendor successful.”
The moon base mission could see people living and working on the lunar surface within six years.
The pioneering project, which aims to develop the technologies needed for future deep space voyages, including to Mars, will be rolled out in three stages.
The Nasa bosses also promised that if the USA’s men’s team won the World Cup, a competition football would be taken to the Moon.
Holding out the incentive, Mr Isaacman said: “Speaking of payload capacity, what do you think the chances are here if America wins at all, that we can find some volume here on one of these landers to put one of the soccer balls in?”
Mr Garcia-Galan said: “If the United States wins the World Cup, we will absolutely find space.”