Blue Origin Sets Its Sights on the First Female Lunar Explorer
Jeff Bezos spilled the beans on Friday: the BE‑7 engine he’s been polishing for years will carry the first woman onto the Moon’s surface. The news came alongside a footage‑laden Instagram post that showcased the engine’s recent test at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama.
The Engine That’s Own When the Moon Calls
- 1,245 seconds of burn time. That’s the total duration the BE‑7 has been tested in the lab.
- It’s under the hood of Blue Origin’s National Team Human Landing System—the lunar lander that’s the star of this quest.
- The team that’s building it is a national squad, headed by Blue Origin and joined by Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper.
Race to the Moon: A Clash of Billionaires
Blue Origin isn’t flying solo. It competes with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Dynetics (owned by Leidos) for a slice of NASA’s next-generation lunar lander pie. In April, NASA awarded contracts to the three contenders:
- Blue Origin’s team received a whopping $579 million.
- SpaceX got $135 million for Starship development.
- Dynetics was handed $253 million.
Nasa’s spokesperson hinted that two of these companies will get the nod in early March 2021, kicking off prototype work that should gear them up for crewed missions by 2024.
Funding Fog & Political Nose‑Dipping
All this excitement is under a shadow of limited funding from Congress and a possible shift in the incoming Biden administration’s stance on space exploration. These uncertainties may put the final decision on a hold‑out, potentially delaying the lunar lander contracts.
Nevertheless, the stakes are high. If the BE‑7 burns through its rockets as projected, the first woman stepping on the Moon will do so with a Blue Origin-powered capsule, marking a historic moment that could catapult humanity into a new era of lunar adventures.