NASA Moon Mission 2024: SpaceX, Boeing Take Lead In Space Race

Partners of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, Elon Musk-led SpaceX and plane maker Boeing are in a race to supply NASA the best space capsule to transport astronauts to Moon and the ISS.

NASA’s Commercial Crew program has been conceived to transport astronauts using commercial capsules, per NASA news.

Reflecting the accelerated pace on Crew Dragon, SpaceX last week announced it completed 13 tests in a row on the Crew Dragon’s upgraded parachute system. One of the stumbling blocks to a manned flight has been the snags in the parachute system.

Boeing tests CST-100 Starliner

Boeing also successfully tested its launch pad abort system for the CST-100 Starliner capsule on November 4 at 9 a.m. Eastern time. It was tested at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Boeing stock was up 1.7 percent in the last trading session.

Remember SpaceX launch had only 10 successful tests as a target before the capsule is handed to transport astronauts. In the words of CEO Elon Musk, the new Mark 3 chutes will offer the “highest safety factor for astronauts.”

NASA had been feeling the heat of delay in getting the capsules ready as deadlines were spinning like the moon phases.

The urgency in NASA was compounded by the hefty payout to the Russian agency Roscosmos rockets for sending astronauts to the ISS at the rate of $80 million a seat in the Soyuz rocket.

But the long delays by partners tested NASA patience. Although Musk claimed SpaceX would send humans into space by April 2019 and it completed an unmanned test in March 2019, an error later affected the pace. Boeing was also trailing with the capsule.

Finally, the Government Accountability Office slammed both firms for “chronic delays” in a June report and gave a firm wakeup call.

NASA aims manned test flight in early 2020

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine is on record that the agency will have the space capsule commercially ready in the first quarter of 2020 after a comprehensive test launch.

Bridenstine in September tweeted to remind SpaceX that the Commercial Crew program is “years behind schedule.”

According to Space X news, Bridenstine followed up the tweet with a visit to SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California and broached the issue with Musk. Later the NASA chief told media that he expects a manned test flight in the first quarter of 2020.

Meanwhile, NASA's pledge to land humans on Moon’s surface in 2024 has encouraged a slew of private companies as partners in the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

Notable is U.K’s Spacebit which is joining the stream of missions toward the moon with its Spacebit lunar test mission in 2021.

According to reports, Spacebit’s robots, just like a range rover will explore the lava tubes and mystery-laden caves housed on the moon.

On October 10 Spacebit CEO Pavlo Tanasyuk announced the mission 2021 as the United Kingdom's first privately built moon rover and inked a partnership with the International Astronautical Federation Regional Group.