Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy announced Monday that he would allow other companies to compete for the Artemis III landing contract that was awarded to the SpaceX Starship spacecraft.

NASA is reopening its contract for the Artemis III lunar landing mission after acknowledging delays from current contractor SpaceX. The announcement came Monday during an interview on CNBC with Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy.

Bezos' space company Blue Origin, with its Blue Moon lander in development, has a similar lunar landing contract awarded by NASA in 2023 but for later Artemis moon missions. The c

NASA's acting administrator accused SpaceX on Monday of falling "behind" and said he plans to reopen contracts to get U.S. astronauts "back to the moon in 2028."

NASA is opening up its SpaceX moon landing contract to competition amid concerns that the U.S. could fall behind China in getting astronauts back to the moon.

Acting Administrator Sean Duffy said the agency will open up the Artemis 3 contract to other spaceflight companies because SpaceX has fallen behind schedule.