Topline
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday the agency has started the process of reopening solicitations for a contract that had been awarded to SpaceX as part of the Artemis III project to return astronauts to the moon, saying the Elon Musk-led company is “behind schedule.”
Key Facts
he Artemis III project is a NASA mission to send U.S. astronauts to the south pole of the Moon for research—predicted to commence in mid-2027—which would mark the first time humans have been on the moon since the 1970s.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX won the contract in 2021 to provide landing equipment for the Artemis III project.
Duffy, who also serves as acting NASA administrator, said NASA was not going to wait for any company and he was in the process of “opening” the contract with SpaceX up to competition like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
Duffy also said NASA is looking to complete the mission before the end of President Donald Trump’s term, as the president would like to beat China back to the moon.
SpaceX and Elon Musk did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
Key Background
SpaceX is one of many companies with NASA contracts for the Artemis III space mission, whose timeline has been getting longer. NASA last December pushed back the dates for the next Artemis missions—delaying the launch to send astronauts around the moon to April 2026 and the actual moon landing to 2027. Earlier this month, SpaceX launched a successful Starship test rocket after a series of complications with previous test flights. Musk served as a “special government employee” leading the Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration earlier this year, carrying out mass layoffs in the government and sitting in high-level meetings with global leaders during his tenure. The billionaire’s companies Tesla, SpaceX and the Boring Co. are also reported to have secured billions in government contracts over the past decade spanning multiple agencies. After a public fallout, Trump threatened to cut some of the billionaire’s contracts and Musk said he was creating his own political party.
Contra
The government shutdown could stall plans to renegotiate the contract, CNBC reported, although NASA employees working on the Artemis missions with contractors would continue working during the shutdown.
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