In 2021, NASA signed a nearly $3 billion contract with his SpaceX to use its new Starship mega-rocket as the lunar lander for the first Artemis astronauts. SpaceX is preparing for its third Starship launch atop its enormous super-heavy booster.The company is one of NASA's most important contractors, as our chart shows. In the fiscal year 2022, the U.S. space agency NASA awarded Musk's company about $2 billion in contract volume out of its total approved budget of $24 billion.As part of NASA's Artemis campaign to return humans to the Moon for the benefit of all, the agency is working with SpaceX to develop the company's Starship human landing system (HLS), which will land astronauts near the Moon's South Pole during the Artemis III and Artemis IV missions.

When did NASA and SpaceX start working together : In April 2011, as part of its second-round Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, NASA issued a $75 million contract for SpaceX to develop an integrated launch escape system for Dragon in preparation for human-rating it as a crew transport vehicle to the ISS.

Why does NASA support SpaceX

NASA's Commercial Crew Program is working with American aerospace companies Boeing and SpaceX as they develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems capable of carrying crews to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station.

What is Elon Musk’s involvement with NASA : Elon Musk's SpaceX also joined in 2019 and is yet to be awarded a contract under CLPS, although the company has already inked valuable deals with NASA and its reusable rocket technology is being used to launch other CLPS missions like Intuitive's IM-1.

What is the relationship between NASA and SpaceX NASA pay SpaceX for commercial launch contracts. Currently most of the cargo and all of the astronauts that NASA send to the ISS are flown on commercial launches that they buy from SpaceX.

Here's one: NASA saved at least $548 million, and perhaps more, thanks to just one contract with Elon Musk's SpaceX. Last week, the US space agency tapped the company's Falcon Heavy rocket to launch a space probe to one of Jupiter's moons, Europa, in 2024.

Will Starship ever exist

As of 2024, Starship is in development with an iterative and incremental approach, involving test flights of prototype vehicles, which often end in the destruction of the test vehicle. As a successor to SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, Starship will perform a wide range of space missions.If all goes well, the spacecraft will brake into orbit around the moon and descend to the surface next Thursday, touching down about 186 miles from the moon's south pole.Senator Bill Nelson

Senator Bill Nelson was sworn in as the 14th NASA administrator on May 3, 2021.

NASA has contracted SpaceX and Blue Origin to provide landing systems to take astronauts to the Moon's surface from lunar orbit, beginning with Artemis III. The agency has asked the two companies to develop cargo versions of their human lunar landers as an option under their existing contracts.

Who does NASA work with : NASA prime contractors Aerojet Rocketdyne, Axiom Space, Bechtel, Blue Origin, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Jacobs, Lockheed Martin, Maxar Space Systems, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX currently have more than 3,800 suppliers across 49 states contributing to the lunar spaceport at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Orion, the SLS …

Why does NASA work with SpaceX : NASA's Commercial Crew Program is working with American aerospace companies Boeing and SpaceX as they develop and operate a new generation of spacecraft and launch systems capable of carrying crews to low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station.

Is SpaceX better than NASA

SpaceX achieved the first successful suborbital flight and landing of a full Starship prototype by May 2021. SpaceX's pace in bringing new systems and iterative upgrades to the market has been nothing less than stunning compared with NASA.

On top of that, NASA researches Earth's climate and studies the changing climate. SpaceX, founded more recently in 2002 by Elon Musk specializes in engineering affordable rockets and reaching the goal of humans living in space.NASA has awarded a contract modification to SpaceX to further develop its Starship human landing system to meet agency requirements for long-term human exploration of the Moon under Artemis.

Can Starship really go to Mars : SpaceX's Starship rocket will be on Mars by the end of the decade and a future version will travel between the stars, billionaire Elon Musk said on Monday, days after the company celebrated major progress after the rocket's third test flight as it works with NASA to return astronauts to the moon.