The Space race has represented national rivalry, pride, and power for nearly a century. What began as a competition between the U.S. and the USSR has changed into something entirely different.
Private businesses are fighting to push the boundaries of Lunar Exploration and beyond in today’s race, not nations. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, is at the center of it all. Today, it shares the stage with big names like Boeing, SpaceX, and Blue Origin.
A new chapter in space history
The Apollo Mission sent humans to the moon for the first time in 1969 and that amazing event introduced a whole new era. However, a lot has changed in the space landscape since then: NASA, the pioneer of spaceflight, is now working with private businesses to reach new objectives.
The Artemis Program, a project that’s even more ambitious than Apollo, has been possible thanks to this type of partnership (and probably only because of it). The idea was to build a long-term human settlement on the moon and then get ready to go to Mars.
Elon Musk‘s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are part of the essential collaborators to make this possible. However, this collaboration has also given rise to a new kind of race: a competition between businesses, agreements, and deadlines.
The new technological race
Decades ago, the Space Race was built around flags and patriotism. But innovation and technology have become essential these days. Instead of countries fighting for supremacy, private companies dominating the momentum.
NASA restored its lunar missions through the Artemis Program, working with SpaceX, in response to pressure from China and Russia’s joint plans to set up a lunar base by 2030. Elon Musk’s business was given a $2.9 billion contract by the agency in 2021 for building the Starship and a Human Landing System, two essential parts for sending humans back to the Moon.
However, the speed of progress has been slower than expected. Sean Duffy, acting NASA administrator, has voiced his displeasure with SpaceX’s delays and made a suggestion that the agency might look out other partners in order to stick to its timeline. Musk, meanwhile, claims that the delay is due to NASA’s bureaucracy.
New allies, new challenges
One of those possible new partners is Jeff Bezos’s aerospace company, Blue Origin: the company secured a $3.4 billion contract in 2023 to create its own Human Landing System, and provided NASA with a backup plan—in case SpaceX’s problems keep going on. With a contract worth nearly $4.2 billion, Boeing has been involved for some time, but it mostly funds other program sections than Artemis.
The future of Lunar Exploration
Flag-planting and TV broadcasting of successful missions are not the focus of this modern Space Race though: It’s all about perseverance, creativity, and pushing the limits of technology. The three main phases of the Artemis Program are Artemis I, which was an uncrewed test flight that has already been finished, Artemis II, which is the first crewed mission that is currently on hold, and Artemis III, which is scheduled to put humans on the moon by 2027. However, even that timeline is uncertain due to Elon Musk’s ongoing technical setbacks.
It might be time for a bigger team
NASA is aware that it is no longer able to “win” this new Space Race by itself.
The objective of the Artemis Program is to stay on the Moon, not just get back there. And the agency needs to rely on innovation from businesses like Boeing, Blue Origin, and SpaceX to achieve that goal.
Although there are still some difference to resolve; the good news is that all partners share the spirit of exploration that started with the Apollo Mission and continues to inspire every launch today.