The US Secretary of Transportation and acting director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Sean Duffy, announced on Monday (October 20) that due to SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, lagging behind in the progress of the project aimed at returning to the moon according to the United States’ timeline, he is reopening the contract for the “Artemis III” mission and allowing other companies to compete with SpaceX.
Duffy stated in an interview with the US consumer news and business channel CNBC’s “Squawk Box”: “We will not wait for just one company. We aim to advance this mission, win the second space race against China, return to the moon, and establish camps and bases.”
In another interview on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends”, Duffy mentioned: “I am in the process of opening up this contract. I believe we will see companies like ‘Blue’ participate, and possibly other companies.”
Duffy was referring to the American aerospace company Blue Origin, a competitor to SpaceX founded by Jeff Bezos.
The acting NASA director told Fox News host, “We are going to have a space race among American companies to see who can lead us back to the moon.”
The NASA “Artemis” series of missions costs billions of dollars and aims to send American astronauts back to the moon. China also plans to accomplish a manned moon landing by 2030. The “Artemis III” mission is scheduled to be realized in 2027, using SpaceX’s “Starship”.
However, Duffy pointed out that Musk’s SpaceX has failed to progress with this mission as planned, potentially causing the US to fall behind its competitors. President Trump hopes to witness the completion of this mission before his presidential term ends in January 2029.
“They are falling behind schedule, so the President wants to ensure that we can beat China’s plans,” Duffy added in his remarks to Fox News.
Earlier this month, SpaceX launched its eleventh “Starship” test rocket, which had experienced multiple failures and explosions in the past.