Overview
- Blue Origin finished thermal vacuum testing of its uncrewed Blue Moon Mark 1 lander, Endurance, inside NASA’s Chamber A at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
- Engineers recreated space vacuum and extreme temperatures to check systems and confirm the lander’s structural and thermal performance before flight.
- Endurance will target the Moon’s south polar region later this year and will carry two NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services payloads, stereo plume cameras and a laser retroreflector.
- The mission will also prove precision landing, cryogenic propulsion, and autonomous guidance, navigation, and control needed for future lunar surface work.
- NASA opened the facility under a reimbursable Space Act Agreement, and test data will feed into Blue Origin’s planned crewed Blue Moon Mark 2 lander.