SpaceX, Boeing and Lockheed Prepare Future Hardware for NASA’s Artemis Program

Companies behind NASA’s Artemis moon program—including SpaceX,

Boeing Co.

BA 0.52%

and

Lockheed

LMT 0.63%

Martin Corp.—are working on future missions as the agency prepares to try to get its first lunar rocket off the ground next month.

Lockheed Martin said last week that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ordered three more of the Orion spaceship it has developed, and the agency plans to use them for the sixth through eighth Artemis missions. The latest order amounted to about $2 billion, according to Lockheed, which is now building Orions for the second through fifth Artemis flights.

Separately, a joint venture between Boeing and

Northrop Grumman Corp.

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is in line to win a NASA contract to build at least five more Space Launch System rockets for future launches, according to a recent procurement document from the agency.

NASA proposed to award the contract to the Boeing-Northrop venture in part because of the companies’ knowledge about how to manufacture SLS rockets, according to the agency’s procurement document. Boeing’s responsibilities for SLS include building the main part of the rocket, which contains huge tanks for fuel. Northrop has created the boosters installed on the rocket that are designed to provide a powerful lift during the initial stage of a flight.

On Monday, a SpaceX executive said the company has been working on a series of ground tests that would precede the first orbital test flight of Starship.

Jessica Jensen, a Space Exploration Technologies Corp. vice president, said at an industry event that the company plans to first launch its own Starlink satellites using Starship as it works to deliver a vehicle capable of transporting NASA astronauts to the moon’s surface.

That move would allow the company to “incrementally build up the capabilities that it takes [to] safely land humans on the moon,” she said. The operation would be the third flight for Artemis.

NASA’s Artemis I launch has been delayed twice because of liquid hydrogen problems. It’s not a new one for the space agency. Meanwhile, SpaceX has switched to methane. WSJ explains why NASA still uses the leak-prone fuel. Illustration: Laura Kammermann

The

Elon Musk

-led company hasn’t conducted an orbital test flight of Starship yet, a flight that Mr. Musk has said is one of his top priorities.

NASA is planning to blast off its SLS rocket with the Orion ship on top for the inaugural Artemis next month after two previous efforts were called off because of technical problems. Artemis is NASA’s program to return astronauts to the surface of the moon for the first time since 1972, among other goals, using space vehicles developed by a gaggle of large aerospace companies and smaller suppliers.

NASA earlier this month said it would try again to blast off the first SLS rocket on Nov. 14, with a launch window opening that day at 12:07 a.m. ET. The agency also said it could potentially try for the launch on Nov. 16 and Nov. 19.

Under Artemis, NASA currently is planning to use a SLS rocket to blast an Orion ship with astronauts on board in 2025 to an orbit the moon. There, Orion would link with a SpaceX Starship vehicle, which would transport two astronauts to the lunar surface.

NASA already has hardware in hand through the fifth Artemis mission, Jim Free, associate administrator for exploration systems development, said at the space industry event.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com