NASA Could Use Blue Origin's Lander for Artemis III if Starship Fails

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NASA Could Use Blue Origin's Lander for Artemis III if Starship Fails
Jon Martindale
Extreme Tech
Mon, October 6, 2025 at 7:00 AM EDT·2 min read



(Credit: Blue Origin)


NASA's Artemis III mission has a big problem. Currently slated for 2027, there's a lot of anxiety about whether the Starship lander that is supposed to take astronauts to the lunar surface just won't be ready for 2027, and even 2028 could be overly optimistic. With that in mind, NASA is reportedly working on a contingency plan to develop a new lander option with Blue Origin, augmenting its Mark 1 cargo hauler to support a manned mission.

SpaceX's Starship is currently under development and has shown some recent successes in reaching suborbital trajectories. However, it's a long way from reaching a stable orbit and refuelling, which are two major components of its planned lunar mission. That's before it works out landings and take-offs from the Moon for such a huge spacecraft. No one even knows how many trips it will take to refuel effectively in orbit—some suggest as many as 20 or so—which creates further potential headaches for NASA.

Hence, NASA is looking into alternatives. One proposed idea is to break down the Starship into a smaller vehicle that will be easier to land and require less refuelling. Another is to work on a NASA-designed lander with help from previous partners like Northrop Grumman, but that's a tall order in just a couple of years.



Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 2 concept.  Blue Origin's future "Blue Moon" Mark 2 lander will be human rated. Credit: Blue Origin


Instead, Ars Technica reports that NASA is investigating whether Blue Origin's planned Lunar lander, the Mark 1, could be repurposed to provide some simple crew capacity and transport capabilities. Blue Origin is developing a Mark 2 crew capsule that will be human-rated, but Mark 1 could be retooled using some of the research conducted in designing the Mark 2.

Mark 1 wouldn't need refuelling, and the basic testing has been completed enough that Ars Technica's sources believe it could be viable before the end of 2028. Crucially, that might allow NASA to beat China's manned Moon mission, which is slated for a 2029 launch.

We'll first see the Mark 1 in action in 2027, when it travels to the Moon as part of the Pathfinder mission. If that goes well, it will transport a lunar rover to the Moon in 2027. Crewed launches could follow, with a potential Artemis III mission.

It's all up in the air for now, and NASA hasn't made any announcements, but an understudy could be an option if Starship misses the mark.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tech/science/articles/nasa-could-blue-origins-lander-110000789.html