City officials say Brook Park and the region stand to benefit from a major NASA milestone: The Glenn Research Center has been selected to manage the agency’s fission surface power project. It’s an effort to design small nuclear power systems for the Moon and Mars.

Under the deal, Blue Origin will carry VIPER – short for “Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover” – on its uncrewed Blue Moon Mk1 lander. Separately, NASA has awarded the company a human-rated lander contract under Artemis, but that program is distinct from this mission.

Members of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel believe the Human Landing System version of Starship won’t be ready for Artemis 3’s launch in 2027.

NASA has selected Blue Origin to help get VIPER, the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, to the moon by awarding Jeff Bezos' company a task order under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

NASA safety advisers say they doubt the lunar lander version of SpaceX’s Starship will be ready to support the Artemis 3 mission as planned in 2027.