Reuters, quoted by News.ro.

Jeff BezosPhoto: Tony Gutierrez/AP/Profimedia

NASA’s decision will give the agency a second lunar rover under its Artemis program after SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, committed $3 billion in 2021 to send astronauts to the moon for the first time since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

These initial missions using the SpaceX Starship system are planned for later this decade.

The Blue Origin contract is valued at about $3.4 billion, said NASA’s chief of intelligence, Jim Freeh, and Blue Origin’s private contribution far exceeds that amount, said John Koulouris, Blue Origin’s chief satellite officer.

“Honored to be on this journey with @NASA to send astronauts to the moon, this time to stay there,” Amazon.com billionaire founder Jeff Bezos tweeted after the announcement.

Blue Origin has released little information about its latest lunar settlement proposal, other than the names of its corporate partners, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, spacecraft software firm Draper and robotics company Astrobotic.

Friday’s announcement in Washington was a long-awaited result for Blue Origin, which had unsuccessfully competed for previous contracts.

The space company beat out a competitive bid from defense contractor Dynetics, head of a partnership with Northrop Grumman.

Those companies lost out to SpaceX for the 2021 contract, which is part of the initial satellite acquisition program.

For that program, NASA said it could choose up to two companies, but blamed budget constraints for choosing only SpaceX.

The new contract is a boost for Bezos, who has poured billions into the company since Blue Origin was founded in 2000 to compete for high-profile commercial and government space contracts with SpaceX, the dominant force in satellite launches and flights.

After losing in 2021, Blue Origin unsuccessfully fought to overturn NASA’s decision to ignore the Blue Moon spacecraft, first at the watchdog agency and then in court.

Blue Origin and lawmakers have been pushing NASA to enter into a second landing contract to promote commercial competition and ensure the agency has a backup lunar vehicle.

In early 2022, NASA announced the schedule for the second landing contract.

Koulouris, who will lead Blue Origin’s development of the rover, said Friday’s victory was a difficult result.

“We’ve been working for a while and we’re still ready to go,” he said.

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