SpaceX, billionaire Elon Musk 's commercial spaceflight company, says it's working on a "simplified" plan for its Starship megarocket to land astronauts on the moon .
The revelation, which was shared Oct. 30 in a lengthy blog post on SpaceX's website, came days after the head of NASA announced that the U.S. space agency would consider lunar lander plans from the company's rivals . Amid a heated space race to return humans to the moon , NASA officials have expressed concern that SpaceX has fallen behind schedule in preparing Starship to be ready in time for a mission known as Artemis 3 .
But in proposing its new plan for Starship, SpaceX also rejected the notion that progress for the world's largest rocket has come too slowly.
"With the scale of Starship and the technological breakthroughs it is engineered to achieve, SpaceX is moving at a historically rapid pace," the company said on its website. "Starship will bring the United States back to the moon before any other nation."
Here's what to know about SpaceX's new plans for Starship ahead of the United States' first human moon landing in more than 50 years.
SpaceX will work on 'simplified' Starship for NASA moon missions
SpaceX said it has proposed to NASA a "simplified mission architecture and concept of operations" for Starship, which the agency selected to land a crew of four Artemis 3 astronauts on the lunar surface.
The plan, which SpaceX claimed "will result in a faster return to the moon while simultaneously improving crew safety," hinges on the company being able to hit a key milestone in 2026: Demonstrating that the upper stage of the vehicle, where a crew and cargo could ride, can refuel in orbit. The process, which is necessary for Starship to reach distant destinations , is a complex one requiring two vehicles equipped with docking adapters to meet up in orbit to transfer hundreds of tons of super-cooled propellant.
SpaceX is expected to attempt the complex maneuver with the introduction of the third iteration of Starship , known as Version 3, or V3, during a long-duration flight test that would last much longer than any of the other 11 so far .
Having such a capability would enable Starship to carry up to 100 tons of cargo directly to the lunar surface, including rovers and other materials needed to establish a permanent human presence on the moon, according to SpaceX.
NASA reopens lunar lander contract
In 2021, NASA awarded a contract to SpaceX now worth $4.4 billion to develop a lander capable of transporting humans to the lunar surface.
But recently, NASA indicated its intention to consider other options , opening the door to rivals like Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin to develop their own landers that could be selected for the mission instead.
In publicizing the decision, Sean Duffy, who President Donald Trump appointed as the acting head of NASA, pointed to SpaceX's lags in development as the agency looks to beat China back to the moon before the decade is out.
SpaceX, though, pushed back in its post, arguing that it "has received money only on contractual milestones that have been successfully completed, the vast majority of which have been achieved on time or ahead of schedule."
"SpaceX shares the goal of returning to the Moon as expeditiously as possible," the company added.
Is America going back to the moon? What to know about NASA Artemis program
Under its Artemis campaign , NASA is looking to return Americans to the surface of the moon for the first time in more than 50 years since the end of the Apollo era in 1972.
NASA, which already sent an uncrewed Orion capsule on a moon-orbiting mission in 2022, is next planning to send four astronauts on its Artemis 2 mission in 2026 on a 10-day mission circling the moon. The moon landing itself would be attempted no earlier than 2027 during an Artemis 3 mission.
NASA astronauts would help establish a permanent lunar settlement that would empower future human missions from the moon to Mars .
The moon's south pole, which is largely unexplored except for a few uncrewed robotic missions , is believed to be home to subsurface water ice that could be a valuable resource for astronauts living and working at a lunar base. If water could be extracted , humans could use it for drinking, breathing and as a source of hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel.
What is Starship? SpaceX develops vehicle for Mars, moon landings
Starship, the approximately 400-foot megarocket that SpaceX is testing for future spaceflight, is due to play a vital role during the Artemis 3 lunar landing.
Composed of a lower stage Super Heavy rocket booster and the upper stage Starship vehicle, the spacecraft is regarded as the world's largest rocket when fully stacked.
To maintain the NASA contract, SpaceX would need to quickly produce a proven configuration of Starship that would be capable of ferrying astronauts to the moon's surface. Under the U.S. space agency's lunar exploration plans , Artemis 3 astronauts aboard the Orion capsule would board the Starship while in orbit for a ride down.
In addition to the moon landing mission, Starship is also being developed for future human spaceflights to Mars – part of SpaceX CEO Musk's longtime goal of "making life multiplanetary."
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SpaceX has new Starship plans for NASA moon mission. What to know
