NASA may sideline SpaceX and choose a different company to land its astronauts on the moon later this decade, acting space agency chief Sean Duffy suggested during TV appearances Monday.
Duffy emphasized that he believes SpaceX, which has a $2.9 billion contract to provide the lunar lander astronauts would ride to the moon’s surface, is lagging behind schedule, potentially thwarting NASA’s efforts to return humans to the moon before China amid a new space race.
“They push their timelines out, and we’re in a race against China,” Duffy told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday morning, referring to SpaceX’s development of Starship — the vehicle the company plans to use as a lunar lander for NASA. “So, I’m going to open up the contract. I’m going to let other space companies compete with SpaceX.”
If NASA were to cancel or amend its contract with SpaceX, it could signal a remarkable reversal of a plan the space agency has had in place since 2021. That’s when NASA chose Starship — which is still in the early stages of development and has racked up three in-flight failures and a couple successful suborbital test flights so far in 2025 — to serve as lunar lander during the historic moon landing mission, called Artemis III.
Duffy’s remarks on Monday come as that 2021 decision is facing new scrutiny from space industry leaders who are concerned that the logistics involved with using SpaceX’s Starship are too complex and may cause NASA to lose the new moon race, as CNN previously reported. The Artemis III moon-landing mission is currently set to take place as soon as mid-2027.
It’s not clear what other US companies may be in a position to join SpaceX and Blue Origin in competing for NASA Artemis contracts.
Dynetics, an aerospace company based in Alabama, was among the companies that originally bid for a lunar lander contract alongside Blue Origin and SpaceX. Dynetics did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Monday.
