Elon Musk’s SpaceX wins $2.9 billion NASA moon landing contract

Privately held Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, was selected by NASA on Friday to move forward in developing a human landing system to carry the next two U.S. astronauts to the moon “and pave the way for sustainable lunar exploration.” That’s under NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans on the moon, collaborating with commercial and international partners, and eventually send astronauts to Mars. Elon Musk is chief executive on SpaceX as well as Silicon Valley electric-car maker Tesla Inc. SpaceX in February announced plans to send four space tourists to orbit later this year on a mission to raise awareness for a children’s hospital. Last month, the company’s prototype Mars rocket Starship broke apart while attempting to land.