NASA is moving forward with its moon base plans, awarding contracts for landers, rovers, and drones less than two months after the Artemis II mission. Blue Origin will provide landers to deliver lunar terrain vehicles to the moon's south pole.

Nasa is already ordering landers, rovers and drones for a sprawling moon base, less than two months after the Artemis II’s record-breaking lunar fly-around. The space agency outlined the first phase of its moon base plans on Tuesday, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four US companies. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will provide a pair of landers to deliver moon buggies to the lunar surface, at a spot near the moon’s south pole. These so-called lunar terrain vehicles will be...