SpaceX Loses Guarantee of First Moon Landing

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy remains adamant about returning American boots to the lunar surface—and doing it before communist China.

Concept art of the SpaceX lunar lander slated to be used for Artemis III in 2027. (Courtesy of NASA).

Up until Oct. 20, the return of NASA astronauts to the lunar surface was set to be carried out by a variant of SpaceX’s Starship upper stage. Now, according to Acting Administrator of NASA Sean Duffy, that may not be the case.

Elon Musk’s behemoth rocket still has not conducted a successful mission into low Earth orbit, sparking some doubt about whether or not its human landing spacecraft would be ready in time for Artemis III, a planned moon landing, in 2027.