Nasa looks to other companies for US moon program as Musk’s SpaceX lags behind

Nasa is looking to contract with other companies for its crewed lunar program as Elon Musk’s SpaceX is “behind” on its timeline, the space agency said Monday.

In an interview with CNBC, Sean Duffy, transportation secretary and interim head of Nasa, said the agency is “not going to wait for one company” as it pushes forward with its Artemis program to get astronauts on to the moon.

“SpaceX had the contract for Artemis III,” Duffy said, referring to the agency’s planned crewed moon mission. “By the way, I love SpaceX, it’s an amazing company. The problem is they’re behind. They’ve pushed their timelines out and we’re in a race against China.

“The president and I want to get to the moon in this president’s term, so I’m going to open up the contracts,” he added.

“I’m going to let other space companies compete with SpaceX, like Blue Origin.”

Nasa’s program stems from Donald Trump’s first term, when he directed Nasa to begin new efforts to get humans to the moon. The last crewed moon mission was the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

In 2021, Nasa announced a $2.89bn contract with Musk’s SpaceX to develop a landing system, using the company’s Starship landing system, that will carry humans to the moon’s orbit and surface. While Nasa is also working with other commercial companies, including Blue Origins – owned by Jeff Bezos – and the defense companies Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman and Draper for other components of the project, SpaceX plays a key role as the company building the actual landing system.

Last December, Nasa announced delays to two planned missions, with the next Artemis mission, which would get astronauts around the moon, scheduled for April 2026 and an actual moon landing pushed back to mid-2027.

SpaceX’s Starship rocket has undergone several failed launches over the last two years since the rocket was first tested in 2023.

Musk, who still serves as the company’s CEO, was a close ally of Trump’s during his 2024 presidential campaign and was an active participant in the Trump administration as head of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge).

But Musk’s relationship with Trump went cold over disagreements over the tax and spending bill Trump and congressional Republicans passed earlier this year, which Musk called “utterly insane and destructive”. Musk later accused Trump of being named in the “Epstein Files”.

In June, the White House abruptly removed its nomination for Jared Isaacman, a billionaire private astronaut who is close to Musk, as head of Nasa. Instead, Duffy, who was already confirmed as transportation secretary, was named the interim head of the independent agency.

Duffy on Monday said that Nasa is pushing up its timeline for its next Artemis mission from April 2026 to February 2026.

“We’re going to push this forward and win the second space race against the Chinese,” Duffy said. “Get back to the moon, set up a camp, a base.”