SpaceX Knocks Boeing From Dominant Role in NASA’s Moon Mission

March 19, 2026, 6:57 PM UTC

NASA is revising its moon-landing plans, reducing Boeing Co.’s role while elevating SpaceX’s Starship rocket to do the job of propelling astronauts to lunar orbit, people familiar with the matter said.

Under the original plan set years ago, Boeing’s Space Launch System rocket would have sent a crew of four riding inside the Lockheed Martin Corp.-built Orion crew capsule to the moon, with the spacecraft then putting itself in the moon’s orbit. A Starship lander would meet up and dock with the capsule around the moon, before taking astronauts down to the lunar surface.

With the new ...

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