LONDON, July 6 — For all the noise surrounding the commercial space sector, the official American return to the Moon is proceeding on a more traditional, government-led trajectory. NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, built by Boeing and Northrop Grumman, made its first flight in November 2022, and the agency continues to manage the Artemis program with the Orion spacecraft at its core. The salient point about the current lunar race is that it is no longer a two-nation affair.
The United States leads through the Artemis program, but international partners are integral. The European Space Agency provides the Orion service module; the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency contributes to the Gateway lunar outpost; and the Canadian Space Agency supplies Gateway’s robotic arm.
These are not symbolic gestures—they are hard commitments of hardware and engineering. China’s space program is the major competitor, with its Chang’e missions already operating on the lunar surface and a stated goal of landing astronauts by 2030. That timeline puts pressure on the Artemis schedule, though the two programs operate under entirely different political and budgetary constraints.
It would seem that the American strategy relies on a mix of old and new aerospace giants. SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk in 2002, is developing the Starship human landing system under a $2.9 billion contract awarded in 2021.
Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, was awarded a $3.4 billion contract in 2023 for a second human landing system, developing the Blue Moon lander. Two competing landers, two very different corporate cultures, one destination. For all the technical complexity, the Artemis program’s pace is dictated by the readiness of these landing systems and the SLS rocket itself.
The first SLS flight proved the core vehicle works. The next steps—a crewed Orion flight around the Moon, then the landing itself—depend on hardware that has yet to fly in its final configuration. What to watch next is the integration testing of the Starship lander and the Blue Moon lander with the Orion spacecraft.
Until those systems demonstrate they can dock, transfer crew, and descend safely, the timetable remains provisional. The lunar surface, for now, is still a destination on paper—but the machinery is finally being built.
