NASA awards contracts for moon base landers, rovers, and drones

As part of its initial phase for establishing a moon base, NASA has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four American companies for lunar vehicles, landers, and drones. Blue Origin is set to supply two landers that will transport moon buggies, which are being developed by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost, to the lunar south pole. Additionally, Firefly Aerospace will send the first drones to the moon. This equipment is expected to be delivered prior to the arrival of the first Artemis astronauts, scheduled for as early as 2028. This announcement comes after the Artemis II mission in April, during which four astronauts orbited the moon, venturing farther into space than previous Apollo missions. For Artemis III next year, astronauts will rehearse docking NASA's Orion capsule with lunar landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX.