NASA Selects Companies for Lunar Base Construction
Nasa unveils next steps to build permanent Moon base
NASA has announced details of robotic landers, hopping drones, and vehicles it plans to deploy to the Moon as part of a U.S. lunar base initiative. Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, is among several firms selected to build the equipment.
The U.S. aims to return American astronauts to the Moon before 2029, according to BBC reporting. The effort comes as NASA competes with China in what has become a new space race. China announced plans to land humans on the lunar surface by 2030 and recently launched its Shenzhou-23 spacecraft to its Tiangong space station.
In March, NASA unveiled a $20 billion program to construct a permanent base powered by nuclear and solar energy at the Moon's south pole by 2032.
