NASA Administrator Bill Nelson: I promised competition for lunar landers to Congress, and here it is.
Nelson: express support from Congress and Biden administration on this effort, will get it into FY23 budget (due out next week.)
Both Nelson and HLS manager Lisa Watson-Morgan say SpaceX’s work on HLS is going well. New strategy “bolsters industry readiness” for future services contracts.
Watson-Morgan: draft RFP later this month and industry day in first week of April. Final RFP will be out later in the spring.
Nelson declines to give budget details about the new program, noting the budget proposal’s release early next week.
Watson-Morgan: HLS will be the overarching program with multiple “swim lanes”: ongoing SpaceX Option A work, new Option B work for SpaceX for sustaining lander capabilities, and the Sustaining Lunar Development award to a second company.
Switching gears, Nelson says professional relationship between NASA and Roscosmos on ISS continues “unaltered” including Mark Vande Hei’s return on a Soyuz late this month.
Watson-Morgan: if everything goes as planned, make Sustaining Lunar Development award as soon as possible after the beginning of the new year.
Nelson doesn’t answer a question about whether he was concerned about potential delays in the Artemis 3 schedule raised by the NASA OIG and GAO; reiterates a 2025 date for Artemis 3.
End of the press conference. After some confusion about contract details (SpaceX’s new Option B includes only a crewed demo mission, not uncrewed and crewed as stated earlier) everything is as clear as regolith.
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