NASA announced three contract awards for the Artemis Progam’s Human Landing System—a Blue Origin-led team, Dynetics, and SpaceX’s Starship. I talk through some thoughts on each landing system and what the future might hold for NASA, regarding both politics and decisions.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 37 executive producers—Brandon, Matthew, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, John, Moritz, Joel, Jan, Grant, David, Mints, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Adam, and six anonymous—and 363 other supporters.

Topics

• NASA Selects Blue Origin, Dynetics, SpaceX for Artemis Human Landers
• NASA Names Companies to Develop Human Landers for Artemis Missions | NASA
• Blue Origin's HLS National Team Mission to the Moon to Stay with NASA - YouTube
• Dynetics Lander Infographic (PDF, 5.1MB)
• SpaceX on Twitter: “A lunar optimized Starship can fly many times between the surface of the Moon and lunar orbit without flaps or heat shielding required for Earth return”
• House members criticize NASA lunar lander awards - SpaceNews.com
• Episode T+152: SpaceX’s Dragon XL Wins Gateway Logistics Services Contract - Main Engine Cut Off
• NASA Announces Industry Partnerships to Advance Moon, Mars Technology | NASA
• New Companies Join Growing Ranks of NASA Partners for Artemis Program | NASA

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