SpaceX, Blue Origin Share New Lunar Landing Profiles

Companies are competing for the recently reopened contract to land NASA astronauts on the moon.

Jack Daleo

Saturday, November 01, 2025 at 10:30 AM ET

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Jack Daleo

An artist’s concept depicts SpaceX’s Starship human landing system (HLS) on the lunar surface. [Courtesy: SpaceX]

Key Takeaways:

NASA's Artemis III mission, aiming for the first lunar landing since Apollo, faces uncertainty regarding its human landing system (HLS) and timeline, with the agency reopening competition.
SpaceX, initially contracted for Artemis III with its Starship HLS, is reportedly behind schedule, prompting NASA to seek new or revised proposals from both SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Both SpaceX and Blue Origin have submitted updated plans to potentially accelerate the lunar mission timeline, with NASA now considering broader industry input.
Key development challenges remain, particularly SpaceX's critical orbital propellant transfer demonstration, now targeted for 2026, which is necessary for Starship's human rating.

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With NASA’s first lunar landing since the Apollo era only a few years away, the space agency has yet to determine exactly how its astronauts will reach the moon.

On Thursday, a NASA spokesperson told CNBC that both Blue Origin and SpaceX—which has been developing its Starship human landing system (HLS) for the mission, Artemis III, since 2023—have submitted revised landing architectures that could accelerate the agency’s timeline.