Nasa is pressing ahead with the launch of its next mission critical to put people back on the Moon, despite a recent setback when a rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin exploded in a fireball.
The space company founded by the billionaire Amazon businessman has a key role to play from the outset in establishing an outpost on the lunar surface.
But its main delivery system was the New Glenn rocket, which detonated during an engine-firing test at the end of last month.
However, senior Nasa official Jeremy Parsons said “setbacks are a learning opportunity” and Nasa was bringing all its expertise to bear “to help solve the problems that are here today”.
Blue Origin executive John Couluris also said “excellent progress” has been made following the “significant anomaly” on May 28 and stressed the firm’s motivation “to be part of the journey of returning humans to the Moon”.
He said they would be measured not only by their successes “but how we respond to setbacks”.
The pair made their comments as Nasa revealed the astronauts, who would take part in the Artemis III mission, scheduled for launch next year.
The four crew members will test low Earth orbit docking procedures between the Orion spacecraft and commercial lunar landers, developed by Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, that are due to take humans to the surface of the natural satellite in 2028.
The astronauts were named as Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio and Randy Bresnik from Nasa and Italian Luca Parmitano from the European Space Agency.
Their mission forms part of far-reaching plans to build a moon base that could see people living and working on the lunar surface within six years.
The pioneering project, which aims to develop the technologies needed for future deep space voyages, including to Mars, will be rolled out in three stages.
But the Artemis III mission and future moon development relies in part on the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket, named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth.
Mr Parsons, who is Artemis lead, said: “We have many partners involved in making Artemis III successful and while we recognise there are questions about how Blue Origin’s recent anomaly impacts our plans, setbacks are a learning opportunity.
“We are confident that New Glenn will be ready for Artemis III, together with Blue Origin, but Nasa is stepping in and bringing all of our expertise and capabilities to bear.
“We are working hand in hand with them to meet our commitments to return our nation to the Moon.
“Let me assure you, Nasa is taking an active role with all of our partners, contractors, and vendors to help solve the problems that are here today, and ensure the right outcomes are achieved.”
Mr Couluris, senior vice president of lunar permanence at Blue Origin, said: “As you know, we had a significant anomaly at our launch complex 36a on May 28.
“The response from Nasa, our partners and customers has been extraordinary.
“We’re making excellent progress on the investigation and pad clean-up.
“We’ll begin rebuilding once clean-up is complete, while continuing construction at launch complex 36b.”
He added: “Blue Origin is very motivated to be part of the journey of returning humans to the Moon.
“We’ve redoubled our efforts and are moving forward.”
Mr Couluris went on: “The Moon is the eighth continent, and we will measure ourselves not only by our successes, but how we respond to setbacks.”
SpaceX vice president Jessica Jensen said: “We’re incredibly excited to help return humans to the Moon once again, and this time to stay.”
Announcing the Artemis III team at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, Nasa boss Jared Isaacman said: “We are returning to the Moon.
“A grand adventure back to the lunar surface to build a moon base, and to do so for all of its scientific, its economic potential and to master the skills for where we will inevitably go next.”
He added: “The Nasa astronauts, alongside our international partners, and tens of thousands of the best and brightest across the agency and industry, are ushering in the golden age of discovery.
“They are carrying, carrying forward the hopes and dreams of the next generation, just as the Apollo astronauts did for so many of us.”