Sean Dafey, the agency's chief executive officer, said on October 20 that due to the delay in the development of the manned moon landing mission "Alchemy 3" by the American space exploration technology company (SpaceX), the space agency plans to reopen the contract, allowing other American companies to participate in the tender.

In a statement on social media X, Daphne said: ¡°SpaceX currently has a contract to build a ¡®manned landing system¡¯ that will send U.S. astronauts to the moon on the Alchemist 3 mission, but competition and innovation are key to U.S. dominance in space, so NASA decided to open the production of the ¡®manned landing system¡¯ to other outstanding U.S. companies such as Blue Origin.¡±

According to the NASA, the "manned landing system" (the lunar lander) is an important part of the "Alzheimer's-3" manned moon landing mission, responsible for the transport of astronauts between the lunar orbit and the lunar surface. Astronauts will first use the "Lion" spacecraft to enter the lunar orbit and then land on the lunar surface. After completing tasks such as sampling, scientific experiments and environmental observations, the astronauts will return to the lunar orbit with the "Lion" spacecraft and eventually return to Earth. In April 2021, SpaceX received an NASA contract of about $2.9 billion, responsible for the development and manufacture of the lander.

In an interview with U.S. media, Duffy said SpaceX has done ¡°extraordinary¡± work but is lagging behind in progress, with U.S. President Trump hoping for a manned moon landing before the end of his term.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk responded on X saying the company is ¡°progressing as fast as lightning¡± compared to other companies in the U.S. space industry, and said the company¡¯s next-generation heavy-duty rocket ¡°StarShip¡± will eventually complete ¡°the entire moon landing mission.¡±

In addition to SpaceX, there are many American companies participating in different aspects of the Artemis program, including Blue Origin, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and other companies.

The U.S. announced its Alchemist Moon landing plan in 2019 and carried out the Alchemist 1 unmanned moon flight test mission in November 2022.In December last year, the U.S. Space Agency announced that the Alchemist 2 manned moon flight mission and the Alchemist 3 manned moon landing mission schedule would be postponed again to April 2026 and mid-2027, respectively.