Blue Origin's Endurance Lunar Lander Unveiled and Sent for Testing
Blue Origin's lunar lander, named Endurance, rolled out from its Merritt Island facility on January 20 and is being shipped to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for thermal vacuum testing. The uncrewed lander is set to support NASA's VIPER mission in 2027 and aims to deliver astronauts during the Artemis V mission.
Following testing, it will return to Cape Canaveral for launch atop a New Glenn rocket, although no official launch date has been announced. Blue Origin is also developing the larger MK2 lander for NASA's Artemis program.
The company is in competition with SpaceX, which is also developing a lunar lander. NASA plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface with Artemis III by 2028.
