WASHINGTON — NASA’s acting administrator says he plans to “open up the contract” SpaceX holds to land astronauts on the moon for the Artemis 3 mission because the company has fallen behind schedule.
In appearances on CNBC and Fox News on Oct. 20, NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy said NASA would allow other companies to compete to land astronauts on the moon for Artemis 3, a mission currently assigned to SpaceX’s Starship under a Human Landing System (HLS) contract awarded in 2021.
“SpaceX had the contract for Artemis 3,” Duffy said on CNBC. “The problem is they’re behind. They push their timelines out, and we’re in a race against China. The president and I want to get to the moon in this president’s term.”
“So, I’m going to open up the contract,” he continued. “I’m going to let other space companies compete with SpaceX, like Blue Origin, and again, whatever one can get us there first, to the moon, we’re going to take.”
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Duffy made similar remarks on Fox News. “SpaceX has the contract. SpaceX is an amazing company. They do remarkable things, but they’re behind schedule,” he said. “So, I’m in the process of opening that contract up.”
“We’re going to have a space race in regard to American companies competing to see who can actually get us back to the moon first,” he said.
Duffy did not explain how such a “space race” would work or how it would be funded. Asked for further details, Bethany Stevens, NASA’s press secretary, provided only transcripts of Duffy’s television appearances. Most of NASA’s public affairs staff are currently furloughed because of the government shutdown that began Oct. 1.
She provided more details in a separate statement late in the day Oct. 20. “NASA’s Human Landing System program has given both SpaceX and Blue Origin the opportunity to present acceleration approaches by Oct. 29,” she stated. “NASA is also going to request plans from the entire commercial space industry – through an RFI – for how NASA can increase the cadence of our mission to the moon.”
The comments are the first public acknowledgment by NASA’s acting leader that development of the HLS version of Starship is behind schedule. Duffy previously maintained that Artemis 3 would launch in 2027, the agency’s official target, even as multiple Starship test flight failures earlier this year made that timeline increasingly unlikely.
