SpaceX defends development of starship craft capable of landing on the moon

SpaceX has defended its progress in building the lander that will return Americans to the moon, after comments by a NASA administrator that the agency will reopen the program to other bidders.

In a lengthy blog post on Thursday, Elon Musk’s space company said it had “rapidly advanced” the original Starship satellite through 11 test flights and reached milestone 49 in developing the HLS (Human Landing System) version of the spacecraft designed to reach the lunar surface as part of the government’s Artemis program.

“Astronauts are simultaneously the fastest way to return humans to the lunar surface and the main enabler of the Artemis program to establish a permanent, sustainable presence on the lunar surface.”

Sean Duffy, NASA’s acting administrator, shocked the space world when he recently said on a Fox News program that he was “opening up that contract” to try to get to the moon before China.

“We’re going to have a moon race over American companies to see who can actually get us to the moon first,” he said.

In a recent interview with CNBC, he called SpaceX an “amazing company,” but added, “The problem is they’re behind, they’ve missed their schedule, and we’re in a race against China.”

NASA has awarded SpaceX contracts worth about $4 billion to transform the company’s Starship vehicle into a vehicle that could carry astronauts to the moon as early as 2027. However, members of NASA’s safety panel warned last month that they doubt the schedule can be met.

The editor’s comments angered Musk, who claimed in a social media post that Duffy, who is also President Trump’s transportation secretary, was not smart enough for the job. “The person in charge of the US space program does not have a double-digit IQ,” he wrote.

Duffy included the statement in his writing, “Love the passion, there’s a race to the moon. Big companies shouldn’t be afraid of a challenge. When our innovators compete against each other, America wins!”

NASA awarded Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin a $3.4 billion contract in 2023 to build its own spacecraft to carry human astronauts to the moon by 2029, a date far beyond even SpaceX’s.

In defense of its program, SpaceX said that the size of the Starship is unique and that it is uniquely capable of carrying astronauts and cargo such as rovers, lunar habitats and nuclear reactors to the Moon, with a capacity of up to 100 metric tons. It noted that the criteria to meet the HLS system include starting its engines in a cold and “vacuum-optimized” chamber that simulates space thermal conditions.

Experts say one major hurdle SpaceX has yet to clear is getting propellant to the starship while it’s in Earth orbit to reach the moon. SpaceX said in the post that it is targeting next year to complete the test.

SpaceX moved its headquarters from Hawthorne to Texas last year but still maintains a major operation in the South Bay city. It is looking to increase the number of commercial and military flights of its Falcon 9 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.