Artist concept of Artemis astronaut stepping onto the Moon. Photo: NASA

NASA’s Acting Administrator Sean Duffy said that he is in the process of re-opening the agency’s Moon lander contract with SpaceX for competition, saying Monday that SpaceX is behind on the program. 

“SpaceX is an amazing company. They do remarkable things, but they’re behind schedule. The President wants to make sure we beat the Chinese — he wants to get there on his terms. So I’m in the process of opening that contract up,” Duffy said in a Monday morning in an appearance on Fox News. 

“I think we’ll see companies like Blue [Origin] get involved and maybe others. We’re going to have a space race in regard to American companies competing to see who can actually get us back to the Moon first,” he added. 

NASA awarded SpaceX the Human Landing Systems (HLS) contract in 2021 followed by a second contract option in 2022, for about $4 billion in total awards for the Artemis III and IV missions on the Starship rocket. 

But SpaceX faced a string of three Starship test failures in a row this year, with test flights ending in uncontrolled reentry, and others breaking apart over the Caribbean and disrupting air travel.

The program’s most recent two flights in August and October were successful, but SpaceX has more difficult milestones ahead. The company is now working toward the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy, which will be used for the first Starship orbital flights, operational payload missions, and propellant transfer. Propellant transfer demonstration is the key technical challenge with V3, with SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell recently talking about the “tough” development ahead.  

Duffy said in another appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that SpaceX is behind on milestones. He did not say specifically how NASA will re-open the HLS contract, but that NASA wants to land on the Moon during President Trump’s current term. 

“I’m going to let other companies compete with SpaceX, like Blue Origin,” Duffy said in CNBC. “Whatever one can get us there first, we’re going to take. If SpaceX is behind, but Blue Origin can do it before them, good on Blue Origin. We also might have two companies that can get us back to the Moon in 2028. Again, we’re not going to wait for one company.” 

Blue Origin also has an HLS contract, which NASA awarded in 2023, to develop its Blue Moon lander for the Artemis V mission. 

Last year, NASA pushed back timelines for Artemis III, originally scheduled for 2025, now targeted for mid-2027, citing delays with the Orion space capsule, which is designed by Lockheed Martin. 

Duffy said Monday that the Artemis II crewed lunar flyby mission (which SpaceX is not part of), that is currently scheduled for April 2026, may be moved up to February 2026. Artemis III will launch “a couple years after that.”

The U.S. government is currently shut down. Duffy told CNBC that employees at NASA working on the Artemis program are working without pay, and “some science projects that Democrats love” have been paused.