Delays with SpaceX's Starship risk NASA moon landing timeline, watchdog says

Watchdog says SpaceX rocket faces at least two years of development delays

SpaceX's Starship has accumulated at least two years of development delays since NASA picked the rocket as an astronaut moon lander in 2021, and is expected to require more time to clear remaining development hurdles before it can put humans on the moon, NASA's inspector general said in a report released Tuesday.

NASA last month added an extra Artemis test mission and acknowledged technical challenges its contractors face within the Artemis moon program, in which Elon Musk's SpaceX will land humans on the moon across two missions beginning in 2028 followed by similar crewed landings by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.

The agency kept 2028 as its target moon landing date for Starship. But the magnitude of both SpaceX and Blue Origin's remaining development work on their moon landers jeopardizes the 2028 target.