Nearly a year ago, NASA picked its next moon ship to land astronauts on the lunar surface: SpaceX’s Starship. Today, the U.S. space agency will provide an update on its Artemis program moon lander plan and you’ll be able to listen to it live online.Â
NASA will hold a press teleconference at 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT) to “provide an update on the agency’s goals to transport astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon under Artemis,” agency officials wrote in a statement. You’ll be able to listen to that briefing live on this page, as well as directly from NASA here.
“Astronaut Moon landers are a vital part of NASA’s deep space exploration plans, along with the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, ground systems, and Gateway,” NASA wrote in the statement. “NASA is committed to using commercial landers to carry astronauts to the surface of the Moon, expanding exploration and preparing humanity for the next giant leap, human exploration of Mars.”Â
Photos: NASA rolls Artemis 1 moon mission to the launch pad for 1st time
NASA picked SpaceX’s huge Starship rocket as its moon lander of choice for Artemis program astronauts in April 2021. The private company, which already ferries NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station, beat out competing bids from the company Dynetics and a team led by Blue Origin that included Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper. With the win, SpaceX nabbed a $2.9 billion contract to provide the Human Landing System for NASA’s Artemis program.Â
Blue Origin and Dynetics protested NASA’s selection of SpaceX, with Blue Origin losing a federal lawsuit over the matter last November.Â
Today’s teleconference will include comments from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, as well as Jim Free, the associate administrator for NASA Exploration Systems Development; Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for Artemis campaign development; and Lisa Watson-Morgan, the agency’s Human Landing System program manager.
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