NASA to pay $4.6 billion to Lockheed Martin for making six space capsules for Artemis mission

“This contract secures Orion production through the next decade, demonstrating NASA’s commitment to establishing a sustainable presence at the Moon to bring back new knowledge and prepare for sending astronauts to Mars,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement.

NASA says that the Orion capsule will be able to bring the astronauts to the Moon and back, it will also be capable enough to travel to other missions such as Mars and more.

“Orion is a highly-capable, state-of-the-art spacecraft, designed specifically for deep space missions with astronauts, and an integral part of NASA’s infrastructure for Artemis missions and future exploration of the solar system,” Bridenstine added.

I’m proud to announce a milestone for our #Artemis program to land the first woman & next man on the Moon by 2024. Today, we awarded a contract to @LockheedMartin for a @NASA_Orion spacecraft production line that will support as many as 12 missions. More: https://t.co/zUhe7CLgvk pic.twitter.com/etBmkx3dp4

— Jim Bridenstine (@JimBridenstine) September 23, 2019

The US space agency feels that ordering the capsules in groups of three will allow it to benefit from efficiencies which become available in the supply chain over the period of time. It should help NASA save money on production costs.

The service module of the Orion, that provides the power and propulsion for Orion during the mission, is contributed by ESA (European Space Agency), NASA said in an earlier release.

The Orion capsules are also designed to be reusable. The long-term plan of NASA is to reuse the recovered crew modules at least once. The Artemis mission is the US space agency’s next step in the field of space exploration by humans. It is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration program.

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Earlier this month, NASA started using a huge water tank at its Neutral Buoyancy Lab to prepare its astronauts for the challenges that arise while going into space. This apart, to prepare for the 2024 Artemis mission, NASA has also recently given a $13.7 million contract to Advanced Space, a US-based engineering services company, for developing and operating a lunar orbital CubeSat mission that will be launched as early as December 2020.