SpaceX and Elon Musk can replace SLS, Space Launch System, with the fixed priced $100 million per ton moon missions from 2028 and beyond. This would still be

NASA's acting chief said earlier this week that he intends to reopen the contract for the Artemis III lander that will return humans to the lunar surface.

NASA is opening up its SpaceX moon landing contract to competition amid concerns that the U.S. could fall behind China in getting astronauts back to the moon.

In April 2021, NASA awarded Elon Musk's company a $2.9 billion contract to provide the first crewed lunar lander for the agency's Artemis program. That vehicle, a modified upper stage of SpaceX's Starship megarocket, is supposed to land astronauts on the moon for the first time on the upcoming Artemis 3 mission.

Interim NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said Monday that NASA was reopening the contract for the Artemis III moon lander after delays with development of SpaceX's Starship.

NASA is looking for new ideas for moon landers to help astronauts return to the surface of the moon as progress for SpaceX's Starship has come slowly.

SpaceX could lose its much-prized contract to put astronauts on the moon in the Artemis III mission that will mark the first crewed landing on the lunar surface since the final Apollo mission in 1972.

Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, and Lockheed Martin are among the contractors that may compete with Elon Musk’s company in the race back to the lunar surface.

China aims to put its astronauts on the moon by 2030. For NASA to get back there first, it needs SpaceX to quickly complete its Starship rocket — but it faces major hurdles.