The race to the moon is heating up, and Blue Origin is in the spotlight. With their lunar lander mockup now ready for NASA Artemis astronaut training, the company is making significant strides in the space race. This development is a crucial step towards establishing a permanent human presence on the moon's surface, a key objective of NASA's Artemis program. The mockup, located at the Johnson Space Center, allows astronauts to seamlessly transition from training in the Orion space capsule to the Blue Moon lunar lander. This integration is a significant milestone, as it enables astronauts to practice docking procedures and verify life support and communication systems in a realistic environment. The Blue Moon, a 52-foot tall lunar lander, is one of two chosen by NASA through the Human Landing System (HLS) contracts, the other being SpaceX's Starship. Both landers have faced delays, but Blue Moon is the first to integrate a cabin model for training at a NASA facility. Astronauts have already tested some of Starship's early cabin designs, but these tests have been limited to SpaceX's own facilities. The Blue Moon MK2, a full-scale prototype of the crew cabin, is now operational for training and testing at the Johnson Space Center. This development is a significant step towards the Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for late 2027. The mission will fly four astronauts aboard Orion into low Earth orbit, where they will rendezvous with the lunar lander vehicles to practice docking procedures and verify life support and communication systems. If all goes according to plan, NASA is targeting 2028 for a moon landing on Artemis 4, and possibly again on Artemis 5 that same year. However, the landers have a long way to go before NASA will qualify them to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface. The Artemis moon landers will need to touch down safely on the moon and deliver crews back to lunar orbit for transfer back aboard Orion. This is a significant challenge, as it requires several on-orbit refueling flights and the transfer and long-term storage of cryogenic propellants, neither of which have ever been demonstrated in space. Once these milestones have been accomplished, NASA is also requiring successful uncrewed missions to the lunar surface for each lander, before they can qualify to carry astronauts. The Blue Moon lander mockup now operational in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility is not the final design of the vehicle, but NASA plans to use the test article to provide feedback on its design as Blue Origin continues the real MK2's development. The Blue Moon MK1, a smaller cargo variant of the lunar lander, recently completed vacuum chamber testing at the Johnson Space Center and is slated to launch aboard a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket on an uncrewed mission to the moon later this year. However, this mission may face its own delay as the company completes an investigation with the FAA into the failure of New Glenn's upper stage on its most recent launch. The space race is far from over, and Blue Origin is making significant strides towards establishing a permanent human presence on the moon's surface. With their lunar lander mockup now ready for NASA Artemis astronaut training, the company is well on its way to achieving this ambitious goal.
