SpaceX to Land Astronauts on the Moom - Updated

Well, this is interesting. NASA has selected SpaceX to build the lander that will land its astronauts on the moon as part of its Artemis program. The contract is worth almost $3 billion to SpaceX. The lander will be based on the Starship rockets that SpaceX is currently testing in Texas.  

NASA is getting ready to send astronauts to explore more of the Moon as part of the Artemis program, and the agency has selected SpaceX to continue development of the first commercial human lander that will safely carry the next two American astronauts to the lunar surface. At least one of those astronauts will make history as the first woman on the Moon. Another goal of the Artemis program includes landing the first person of color on the lunar surface.

The agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket will launch four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft for their multi-day journey to lunar orbit. There, two crew members will transfer to the SpaceX human landing system (HLS) for the final leg of their journey to the surface of the Moon. After approximately a week exploring the surface, they will board the lander for their short trip back to orbit where they will return to Orion and their colleagues before heading back to Earth.

 I am willing to be that we will see the launch to the Lunar Gateway change from the SLS booster to a SpaceX rocket at some point, given the immense cost of each launch. For that matter, refueling a Starship in orbit could eliminate the need for the Lunar Gateway, which is a useless boondoggle if there ever was one.

Update: NASASpaceflight.com has published an article going into some detail about how and why NASA chose SpaceX over the other candidates.

The TL;DR version: cost and capability. 

SpaceX’s total evaluated price for their proposal was $2,941,394,557. While exact price figures are not provided for offerors that are not selected, the statement specifies that Blue Origin’s proposal was significantly more expensive than SpaceX, and that Dynetics’ proposal was significantly more expensive than Blue Origin.

Since SpaceX’s proposal was the lowest cost, ad also highly rated from technical and managerial perspectives, NASA chose to open price negotiations that could enable the agency to afford to develop the Starship HLS. SpaceX was able to revise the milestone payment timeline to fit within NASA’s current budget, although the overall price of the program was not reduced. SpaceX was not permitted to alter any technical aspects of their proposal during negotiations.

SpaceX’s winning proposal is not without risk, but Starship offered several significant strengths that sufficiently offset any weaknesses. NASA’s evaluated SpaceX’s HLS proposal as a credible technical response to the agency’s needs, with any weaknesses either offset by strengths of inconsequential to contract performance.

Notable strengths of the Starship HLS design include a 100 day loiter capability in lunar orbit, exceeding NASA’s goal of a 90 day loiter period. The ability to wait at the moon for the arrival of the crew offers additional flexibility for Space Launch System (SLS) launches.