With SpaceX behind schedule, NASA will seek more ideas for landing on the Moon

NASA’s acting administrator said Monday that the agency is looking for a Plan B to transport astronauts to the surface of the Moon because SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, is behind schedule.

In appearances on CNBC and Fox News, Sean Duffy, the space agency’s temporary head, said he would open bidding for a contract to build a new lunar lander to other companies. Mr. Duffy, who is also Transportation Secretary, spoke of the urgency for NASA to beat China, which aims to send its astronauts to the Moon by 2030.

“We’re not going to wait for one company,” Mr. Duffy said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We are going to get things done and win the second space race against the Chinese.”

Mr. Duffy identified another priority: President Trump wanted the moon landing to take place before January 20, 2029, the end of his second term as president. That would mean developing and building a new lunar lander in less than three and a half years, at a cost that would most likely add billions of dollars to what NASA has already budgeted.

Mr. Duffy cited Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, as a possibility. Blue Origin is already developing a lunar lander for NASA. But this $3.4 billion contract concerns the Artemis V mission, which is not expected to take place until the 2030s.

Lockheed Martin and other companies could also play a role in the lunar mission.

On X, Mr. Musk responded dismissively. “SpaceX is evolving like lightning compared to the rest of the space industry,” he wrote in an article. “Also, Starship will eventually complete the entire mission to the Moon. Mark my words.”