Musk’s SpaceX wins $2.9 billion NASA deal to take two astronauts to the moon in 2024

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<strong>NASA awarded billionaire Elon Musk's space company SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft for landing astronauts on the moon as early as 2024, the agency said on Friday. SpaceX beat rivals Amazon founder Jeff Bezos-controlled Blue Origin and another defence company Dynetics Inc to win the contract.</strong></p>
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"NASA Rules!!" Musk wrote on Twitter after the announcement.</p>
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Musk's SpaceX bid alone while Blue Origin partnered with Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and Draper. Dynetics is a subsidiary of Leidos Holdings.</p>
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This is an attempt by humankind to return to the moon for the first time since the US Apollo mission of 1972.</p>
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NASA said the lander will carry two American astronauts to the lunar surface.</p>
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"We should accomplish the next landing as soon as possible," Steve Jurczyk, NASA's acting administrator, said during the video conference announcement.</p>
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"If they hit their milestones, we have a shot at 2024," Jurczyk added.</p>
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NASA said SpaceX's Starship includes a spacious cabin and two airlocks for astronaut moon walks and that its architecture is intended to evolve to a fully reusable launch and landing system designed for travel to the Moon, Mars and other destinations in space.</p>
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SpaceX also responded on Twitter, writing, "We are humbled to help @NASAArtemis usher in a new era of human space exploration."</p>
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Unlike the Apollo landings from 1969 to 1972 – the only human visits to the moon's surface – NASA is gearing up for a longer-term lunar presence that it envisions as a stepping stone to an even more ambitious plan to send astronauts to Mars. NASA is leaning heavily on private companies built around shared visions for space exploration.</p>
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SpaceX will be required to make a test flight of the lander to the moon before humans make the journey, NASA official Lisa Watson-Morgan told reporters.</p>
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On Thursday, NASA said it would send its crew to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX rocket on April 22.</p>
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The agency aims to create regular service to the moon and said it will have a separate competition for that contract.</p>
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"We have to be able to provide for recurring lunar services," said Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems division.</p>
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This is another feather in Musk’s cap as he has turned electric car maker Tesla Inc. into the world's most-valuable automaker, with a market capitalization of $702 billion.</p>
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Musk has become a leader in technology, with his companies undertaking space flight, electric cars, neural implants and subterranean tunnel boring ventures.</p>