NASA picks flight-proven moon landers for more lunar surface mission deliveries
NASA has picked a further wave of flight-proven moon landers to deliver science payloads to the lunar surface for its Moon Base Program.
On June 30, 2026, the US space agency said it had selected Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines to carry out vital missions to enable “sustained human presence on the moon”.
Astrobotic is awarded $297.9 million for two lunar deliveries, while Firefly Aerospace will receive $144.2 million and Intuitive Machines $148.3 million for one delivery each as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative.
“These new awards to our commercial partners, totaling nearly $600 million to land more missions on the Moon with science payloads, demonstrate our commitment to accelerating our effort to build a long-term presence on the lunar surface, and give us more opportunity to develop the skills we need to prosper there,” said Lori Glaze, Associate Administrator for the Human Spaceflight Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
With 17 lunar surface deliveries across multiple providers, NASA also announced new opportunities for American industry to contribute to the Moon Base.
NASA/Sam LottThe agency is considering plans to send to the Moon, PROMISE (Polar Rover for Observation, Mapping, and In-Situ Exploration), a hybrid engineering development version of the Mars Perseverance and Curiosity rovers.
“By flying the same science instruments on multiple landers, we will better understand potential hazards during landing and build out a global network of environmental data and location markers on the Moon,” Joel Kearns, Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters said. “It’s akin to having weather stations in different locations on Earth. These three payloads are flight-proven and their data is critical to supporting safe human exploration of the lunar surface.”
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NASA has picked a further wave of flight-proven moon landers to deliver science payloads to the lunar surface…
The post NASA picks flight-proven moon landers for more lunar surface mission deliveries appeared first on AeroTime.
