Race to the Moon Rekindles: NASA Reopens Bidding for Artemis 3

NASA has decided to reopen the bidding for the Artemis 3 lunar mission, a multibillion-dollar project aimed at returning humans to the moon by 2027. The decision comes amid significant delays at Elon Musk's SpaceX and could pave the way for rivals such as Blue Origin, the company of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Reuters reports.

In an interview with Fox News, NASA Administrator and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy officially announced the launch of a new round of bidding for Artemis 3 contracts. "I'm about to open the bidding. I think we're going to see companies like Blue getting involved, and possibly others," Duffy said on Fox & Friends. The official added that the goal of this decision is to "stimulate healthy competition among American companies” to determine who will be the first to return a human crew to the Moon, more than half a century after the last Apollo mission (1972).

• SpaceX under pressure: delays and uncertainties in the Starship program

Since 2021, SpaceX has had a contract with NASA, currently valued at $ 4.4 billion, to develop the lunar landing system based on the Starship rocket. The Artemis 3 mission - which should ensure the first manned lunar landing of the 21st century - is planned for 2027, but the program has suffered numerous delays. In recent months, Starship tests have encountered technical difficulties and safety criticism. NASA officials have expressed concern that SpaceX's current pace is "not on schedule," which could jeopardize the US goal of surpassing China, which aims for a manned moon landing by 2030. "SpaceX is behind schedule, and the president wants to make sure we beat the Chinese," Duffy stressed, according to Fox News.

• Blue Origin returns to the game with the "Blue Moon" module

Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, already has a contract with NASA to develop the Blue Moon lunar module, intended for subsequent Artemis missions. After years of legal disputes and intense lobbying in Congress, Blue Origin was selected in 2023 to build NASA's second lunar landing system, alongside SpaceX's. However, recent statements by Sean Duffy suggest that Blue Origin could compete directly for Artemis 3, a mission originally reserved for SpaceX. This competition could rewrite the balance of power in the American space industry, where the rivalry between Musk and Bezos has turned into a new "private space race”.

• The Artemis Program: A New Era of Lunar Exploration

The Artemis Program, estimated at tens of billions of dollars, is NASA's most ambitious space project in recent decades: Artemis 1 (2022): uncrewed mission, successfully completed; Artemis 2 (scheduled for April 2026): will send a crew around the Moon; Artemis 3 (scheduled for 2027): should achieve the first human landing on the Moon since 1972. Its goals: to return people to the Moon, establish a permanent human presence and, in the long term, prepare for flights to Mars. Sean Duffy confirmed that the Artemis 2 mission is on schedule and could even be brought forward to February 2026. This involves the collaboration of aerospace giants such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

The race to the Moon also has a strong geopolitical and economic dimension.

Sources cited by Reuters say that Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp recently spoke with President Donald Trump, who expressed his desire for the Artemis 3 mission to take place before the end of his term in 2029. The irony is that Elon Musk, a former Trump supporter in the 2024 campaign, later found himself in conflict with the Republican administration, in the context of budget reforms and control over federal agencies.