ReutersApr 17, 2021 4:16:05 AM IST
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -NASA announced on Friday that it has placed a $ 2.9 billion contract with billionaire Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX to build a spacecraft to fly astronauts to the moon.
The offer from Tesla Inc CEO Musk beat one from Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc who worked with Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and Draper. Bezos also owns the Washington Post.
The US space agency announced this in a video conference.
“We should make the next landing as soon as possible,” said Steve Jurczyk, NASA’s acting administrator. “This is an incredible time to be involved in human exploration for all of humanity.”
NASA said it would require a test flight to the moon before humans make the flight.
“In addition, NASA needs a test flight to fully check all systems with a landing on the lunar surface before our official demonstration mission,” NASA official Lisa Watson-Morgan told reporters.
NASA’s announcement contributed to an extraordinary run for Musk, one of the richest people in the world thanks to its 22% stake in electric car maker Tesla Inc.
Tesla has become the world’s most valuable automaker with a market capitalization of $ 702 billion, far surpassing the giants of the auto industry. Musk has grown into a one-person technology conglomerate that creates or controls companies that operate aerospace, electric cars, neural implants, and underground tunnels.
NASA’s decision was a setback for Bezos, a lifelong space enthusiast and one of the richest people in the world who is now more focused on his space business after announcing in February that he would step down as CEO of Amazon.
The deal was seen by Bezos and other executives as crucial to establishing Blue Origin as a desired partner for NASA and getting the company on track to make a profit, Reuters reported in February.
SpaceX announced on Wednesday that it has raised approximately $ 1.16 billion in equity funding.
Musk has drawn up an ambitious agenda for SpaceX and its reusable rockets, including landing humans on Mars. For the near future, SpaceX’s primary business was launching satellites for Musk’s Starlink Internet company, as well as other satellites and space cargo.
In contrast to the Apollo moon landings from 1969 to 1972, NASA is now preparing for a long-term presence on the moon that it sees as a stepping stone to an even more ambitious plan to send astronauts to Mars. NASA relies heavily on private companies based on shared visions for space exploration.
In December, NASA designated 18 astronauts for possible participation in planned NASA missions to return to the lunar surface with a target date of 2024.
An unscrewed SpaceX Starship prototype rocket failed to land safely on March 30 after a test launch in Boca Chica, Texas. The spaceship was one of a number of prototypes for the heavy-lift rocket developed by SpaceX, which will carry people and 100 tons of cargo on future missions to the moon and Mars. A first orbital spacecraft flight is planned for the end of the year.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington and Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; writing by Will Dunham; editing by Chris Reese, Nick Zieminski and Ramakrishnan M.)
This story was not edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by automatic feed.
