Artemis II is NASA’s last lunar mission without Silicon Valley

SpaceX launched its IPO on the same day the US sent an astronaut to the moon for the first time in 54 years. And the timing is right: This is the last time NASA will try to send people to deep space without significant help from a company that came out of technology.

The origins of NASA’s lunar campaign trace a complicated path back to the second Bush administration, which began building a large rocket and spacecraft called Orion to return to the moon. By 2010, the project had grown over budget and was reformed – and included with a new program to support private companies building new rockets.

This idea led to a deal to save the company at SpaceX and to drive business investment to foreign technology, as well as the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that is now carrying three Americans and one Canadian around the moon and back.

SLS is the most powerful rocket in the world today. It has flown once before, when it launched the empty Orion spacecraft on a test trip around the moon in preparation for this week’s landmark mission, which will set a record for the furthest humans have ever traveled to the solar system.

Next time around, however, the pressure will be on SpaceX or Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. The two companies are competing to see who will put boots on the lunar regolith.

SLS and Orion were built by NASA contractors, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, with support from Europe’s Airbus Defense and Space. It was also expensive, slow, and bulky, while SpaceX was launching cheap reusable rockets and starting to pay more for private space.

When NASA decided to return to the moon in 2019, the agency felt it should stick to SLS and Orion.

But there was one thing missing: A vehicle to carry astronauts from space to the surface of the moon. This, NASA thought, would come from a new generation of space businesses supported by businesses. The agency also turned to a few private companies to send human robots for inspection and testing, including Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines.

SpaceX applied to use its Starship rocket as a pilot and, in 2021, won the job. It was a controversial decision. For a large vehicle to go to the moon it takes a dozen or more trips to complete the trip. After years of waiting for the spacecraft, NASA decided to push back on trying to land on the moon and restart its program.

“These are constructions that no NASA administrator that I know would have chosen if he had chosen them,” former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told Congress last year, noting that the decision was made without a Senate-confirmed leader at the agency.

Blue Origin was added to the list in 2023 to make its way to the public.

Now, the organization seems to be preparing to cook: In 2027, NASA will test the ability of Orion to join one or both in orbit, in front of the two missions that can arrive in 2028.

This year, there have been major changes to the program under the leadership of NASA’s new administrator, billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman, who paid for SpaceX to fly two space missions and was promoted by Musk as a suitable administrator. After being nominated for the job by President Donald Trump, his nomination was revoked, and changed again, he entered the office at the end of 2025 facing several problems about how to return to the moon.

In March, Isaacman abandoned plans, which were seen as disruptive or politically motivated by outside observers, to build a lunar base called Gateway, and invest in SLS upgrades. Now, they are in a new generation of commercial space companies.

With China, however, on its way to putting one of its citizens on the moon by 2030, any delays or mistakes will naturally be noticed. Silicon Valley has so far failed to beat Chinese companies in electric cars or robotics. SpaceX has been a target for companies across the Pacific to emulate, but by going to the moon, Silicon Valley will have a chance to show that it can keep up with the technological frontier.