NASA awards $2.9 billion contract to Elon Musk's SpaceX to build spacecraft

NEW DELHI: 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded Elon Musk's space company SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to build a spacecraft to take astronauts to the moon as early as 2024.

Taking to his Twitter handle, Musk tweeted, "NASA Rules!!" after the announcement.

"If we make life multi-planetary, there may come a day when some plants & animals die out on Earth but are still alive on Mars," he added.

"We should accomplish the next landing as soon as possible," NASA's acting administrator Steve Jurczyk said during the video conference announcement.

"If they hit their milestones, we have a shot at 2024," Jurczyk added.

NASA said SpaceX's Starship includes a spacious cabin and two airlocks for astronaut moonwalks and its architecture is intended to evolve to a fully reusable launch and landing system designed for travel to the Moon, Mars and other destinations in space.

(Edited by Ladiangti Rani)

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