Blue Origin to Build NASA's Second Human-Crewed Lunar Lander

NASA has awarded a $3.4 billion contract to Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to make a lunar lander for an upcoming Artemis mission to the Moon. The plan is for four astronauts to first fly to the Gateway space station on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft. Then, two astronauts will go to the Moon on Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander for "about a weeklong trip to the Moon's South Pole region." Blue Origin is the second company to land a contract with NASA for a lunar lander for Artemis, after SpaceX won the sole contract in 2021.