NASA picks Blue Origin, other space firms for moon missions

May 26 (Reuters) - NASA ‌awarded contracts ​to ​space firms including Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Astrolab to send robotic ‌landers, rovers and drones to support the upcoming ⁠lunar exploration missions.

The U.S. space agency said on ‌Tuesday it had awarded Astrolab $219 ‌million and Lunar Outpost $220 million to build and deliver lunar terrain vehicles.

Blue Origin was ​awarded a $188 million contract to deliver the rovers to the moon's surface using its ⁠uncrewed cargo lunar lander, Mark 1.

The contracts are part of NASA's ​broader Artemis program, which aims to expand humanity's footprint in space and support ​future deep-space exploration.

The agency said ‌it also selected Firefly Aerospace to build the spacecraft that will transport drones ⁠from the Earth's orbit to the moon for its MoonFall mission, which is targeted for launch ⁠in 2028.

NASA's revised plan for Artemis, which was created during ​President Donald Trump's first term, involves putting infrastructure, centered on a moon base, and vehicles on the moon's ‌surface.

NASA's second Artemis mission launched in April, sending four astronauts around the ‌moon and back as one of a ⁠few precursor missions to ‌the first crewed ​moon landing since 1972.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya ‌Biswas)

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