Washington: The US space agency NASA has selected 11 companies including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX to develop prototypes of human landers for its Artemis lunar exploration programme. NASA aims to put the first woman on the Moon’s south pole by 2024 and establish sustainable missions by 2028. “To accelerate our return to the Moon, we are challenging our traditional ways of doing business. We will streamline everything from procurement to partnerships to hardware development and even operations,” said Marshall Smith, director for human lunar exploration programs at NASA Headquarters. Apart from Blue Origin and SpaceX, others selected companies are Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Sierra Nevada Corporation among others. The total award amount for all companies is $45.5 million.
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