Under the $3.4 billion contract, the Blue Origin-led team will design, develop, and test the crewed lander, dubbed Blue Moon.
At today’s presser, John Couluris, HLS program manager at Blue Origin, said the company will contribute “more than 50%” to Blue Moon, as the project to go to the Moon has been “part of our core beliefs for quite some time,” he said. Accordingly, the total cost of the lander is north of $6.8 billion. The company wants to ensure consistent access to the Moon, Couluris said, and Blue Origin intends to make the crewed lander available to both NASA and commercial partners.
Couluris said the 52-foot-tall Blue Moon will come in two configurations, one for landing humans onto the lunar surface and the other for landing cargo and equipment. It’ll be capable of delivering 30 metric tons in a reusable configuration and 30 metric tons in a one- way configuration. Design specifications require the lander to support 30-day missions to the Moon, but Free said the first several Artemis missions will. Having two lunar landers will eventually enable NASA to land humans on the Moon yearly, Free added.ring, will deliver Blue Moon to low Earth orbit, from where the vehicle will travel to theparked in a near-rectilinear halo orbit .
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