One reason SpaceX is pouring so much money into Starship development at the company’s Boca Chica/Starbase production/testing complex is to satisfy a $4.4 billion contract with NASA to put U.S. astronauts back on the moon for the first time since 1972.
NASA awarded the initial $2.9 billion contract in 2021, charging SpaceX with developing Starship as the Human Landing System (HLS) for Artemis III, the third mission of NASA’s Artemis lunar program and the first to land a crew on the moon. Artemis III has been pushed back multiple times, and is now scheduled for no earlier than mid-2027.
But some critics claim SpaceX is moving too slowly toward HLS development, and that China will put people on the moon before the United States at this rate. Among those critics are former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine and Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who announced last month that he would reopen the HLS contract to allow other companies to submit proposals.
SpaceX, posting on X and via an email blast, accused Bridenstine of “revisionist history from a paid lobbyist.”
Bridenstine served as NASA administrator from April 2018 to January 2021 and spearheaded creation of the Artemis program. SpaceX was chosen along with two other companies, Blue Origin and Dynetics, to develop an HLS during his tenure. After leaving NASA, Bridenstine founded a lobbying firm called the Artemis Group, which represents a number of other aerospace companies.
SpaceX praised the former administrator for his service to NASA, but said that his “current campaign against Starship is either misguided or intentionally misleading.”
Taking part along with former NASA administrator Charles Bolden in a moderated discussion during the American Astronautical Society von Braun Space Exploration Symposium Oct. 27-29, Bridenstine said the political imperative to land astronauts on the moon before China has to be matched by “what the contractors are producing.”
“Sometimes that alignment isn’t there,” he said. “So the (HLS) architecture right now, I would argue, is not aligned with what our political leaders are saying … and we need to get that alignment right. But we don’t need to necessarily just throw out everything. We need to make sure that we’re funding the right things.”
All that’s missing from the Artemis program is a moon lander, Bridenstine said.
“I want to be clear: When you think about the architecture, Starship is a tremendously important vehicle for … the future, and it’s going to deliver large mass to low Earth orbit for a long time, and it’s going to drive down costs and increase access,” he said. “But if you need a moon lander, it’s going to take time.”
Given delays in HLS development, “the probability of beating China approaches zero rapidly,” Bridenstine said. “We have to do something different.”
He said Transportation Secretary Duffy’s decision to reopen the HLS contract is the “absolute right thing.”
“I don’t think it’s an either/or,” Bridenstine said. “It’s not Starship or this. I think it’s both. And I think if this is a national security imperative, the budget needs to reflect that.”
He said he would welcome an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era law authorizing the president to direct companies to prioritize certain projects in the name of national security. In this case, such a project would involve fast-tracking development of an HLS and beating China to the moon.
Duffy was quoted in a TV interview last month saying SpaceX does “remarkable things … but they’re behind schedule.” The remarks prompted a series of taunts and insults from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on X.
In response to Bridenstine’s remarks, SpaceX said Starship is still the quickest route to returning humans to the moon and the “core enabler of the Artemis program’s goal to establish a permanent, sustainable presence on the lunar surface.”
“SpaceX shares the goal of returning to the moon as expeditiously as possible, approaching the mission with the same alacrity and commitment that returned human spaceflight capability to America under NASA’s Commercial Crew program,” the company said.
SpaceX also maintained that it has been “consistently responsive to NASA as requirements for Artemis III have changed and have shared ideas on how to simplify the mission to align with national priorities.”
In fact, the company said that in response to recent calls to speed things up it is “formally assessing a simplified mission architecture and concept of operations that we believe will result in a faster return to the moon while simultaneously improving crew safety.”
SpaceX claimed that the Bridenstine’s “recent musings promoting a new landing system,” including invoking the Defense Produce Act, are being reported inaccurately as the “unbiased thoughts of a former NASA administrator.”
“They are not,” the company said. “To be clear, he is a paid lobbyist. He is representing his clients’ interests, and his comments should be seen for what they are — a paid lobbyist’s effort to secure billions more in government funding for his clients who are already years late and billions of dollars over budget.”
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