Former SpaceX Mission Director Who Jumped To Jeff Bezos' Camp Expects Blue Origin's Lunar Cargo Lander To Reach Moon Within 16 Months

Jeff Bezos‘ space venture Blue Origin is eyeing landing its lunar cargo lander on the Moon between 12 and 16 months from now.

What Happened: Blue Origin’s senior vice president of lunar permanence John Couluris told CBS News on Sunday that the company expects to land the cargo lander on the Moon within 16 months.

As for a lander for humans, the company is working on it with NASA, he said. The lunar crew lander is for the Artemis 5 mission which is presently planned for 2029.

Both Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are striving to ensure that the U.S. lands humans on the surface of the Moon again since the final Apollo mission in 1972.

Regarding the competition between the two companies, Couluris said that competition is the way to innovation. While SpaceX has changed the narrative around how we access space, Blue Origin is seeking to do the same, he said. Couluris was formerly senior director for launch and mission operations at SpaceX.

“SpaceX has done some amazing things. And they’ve changed the narrative for access to space. And Blue Origin’s looking to do the same,” Couluris said reportedly. “This lander, we’re expecting to land on the moon between 12 and 16 months from today.”

The lander Couluris referred to is called the Blue Moon MK1 with the ability to deliver up to 3 metric tons to the lunar surface. It is expected to be launched on the company’s New Glenn launch vehicle which is expected to launch for the first time later this year.

Why It Matters: SpaceX meanwhile is also developing a lunar lander variant of its Starship. As per the latest update from NASA, the Starship lander is expected to land humans on the Moon as part of the Artemis 3 mission slated for no earlier than September 2026.

However, the Starship hasn’t made it to Earth’s orbit to date. Though the spacecraft managed to make it into space on its last launch test in November, it exploded soon afterward.

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Moon AI Image Created Via DALL-E