NASA-Spacex tussle over Moon lander manual controls ahead of design review

NASA’s inspector general report on the Human Landing System contracts with SpaceX and Blue Origin notes the fixed-price approach is cost-effective but highlights a dispute over whether SpaceX’s Starship should allow astronauts manual control during lunar landings, with NASA warning the manual-control risk could worsen as a Critical Design Review approaches. The report references Apollo’s backup manual method, recalls the Dragon control-history debate, notes Blue Origin has not yet defined its manual controls, and states uncrewed demonstrations will precede crewed Moon missions.