NASA may decide to sideline SpaceX for a moon landing operation later this decade and choose a different company to land its astronauts, acting space agency chief Sean Duffy indicated during his television appearances on Monday.

Duffy raised concerns about SpaceX's progress on its $2.9 billion contract to develop the Starship vehicle for NASA's Artemis III to ferry astronauts to the moon's surface, is lagging behind schedule. This delay, Duffy argued is jeopardising NASA's efforts to return humans to the moon before China , amid a new space race.

Scrutiny mounts over starship development

NASA awarded SpaceX the Artemis III contract in April 2021, selecting Starship as the vehicle for the historic moon landing mission. As of 2025, Starship remains in the early stages of development, ha

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