Blue Moon Mark 1

Blue Origin (US, commercial) · Program · 2027In development

Blue Origin's Endurance mission patch for the first Blue Moon MK1 flight, debuted January 20, 2026 as the lander shipped to Houston. Credit: Blue Origin (via collectSPACE).

In development, waiting on its rocket: pathfinder Endurance is built and thermal-vacuum tested, but the May 28, 2026 New Glenn pad explosion pushed its debut to NET Q1 2027; VIPER rides a second MK1, targeted late 2027 (as of Jul 2026).

Blue Moon Mark 1 is Blue Origin's robotic cargo lander, built to put up to 3 metric tons on the lunar surface in a single New Glenn launch. As of July 2026 it is a finished spacecraft without a ride: the first flight article, named Endurance, completed environmental testing at NASA Johnson, announced May 4, 2026, but its launcher and only operational pad were knocked out when a New Glenn exploded during a May 28, 2026 static-fire test, and Blue Origin now points to no earlier than the first quarter of 2027 for the pathfinder flight. NASA has bet on the vehicle anyway: it assigned the revived VIPER ice-hunting rover to a second MK1 in September 2025 under a task order worth up to $190 million, with delivery targeted late 2027 (as of July 2026).

Facts as of July 20, 2026, from the sources listed below.

cargo MK1 is rated to deliver to the lunar surface

$190M

NASA task order to land VIPER on the second MK1

100m

precision-landing accuracy the pathfinder must prove

MK1 flights so far; debut NET Q1 2027 (as of Jul 2026)

Targets are the operator's current plan (as of July 20, 2026) and can change.

Blue Moon MK1 Endurance during environmental testing inside Thermal Vacuum Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center, completed in May 2026. Credit: NASA.

In development. Completed milestones on this page are historical record; future dates are targets from official announcements, tagged with when they were made, and can change.

Commonly wrong. Four recurring errors in English coverage. First, 'Blue Moon' gets treated as one vehicle: MK1 is the 3-tonne robotic cargo lander flying now, while MK2 is the much larger crewed Artemis lander, a different spacecraft that has never been fully built. Second, VIPER headlines from 2024 ('NASA scraps its Moon rover') still circulate as current; the rover was never scrapped, NASA kept the finished vehicle intact and in September 2025 bought it a ride on the second MK1, though the $190 million delivery option only gets exercised after the first MK1 flies. Third, launch dates are chronically stale: the pathfinder was '2023', then '2024', then '2025', then 'fall 2026', and after the May 28, 2026 New Glenn explosion the working answer is NET Q1 2027 (as of July 2026). Fourth, the pathfinder is often called 'a NASA mission'; it is Blue Origin-funded, and NASA's CLPS task order CT-3 is a roughly $6.1 million payload-transport buy, two orders of magnitude below the $190 million VIPER delivery.

01Mission facts

Status (as of Jul 20, 2026)	Pathfinder lander Endurance complete and environmental-tested, but grounded by the New Glenn pad explosion; first flight NET Q1 2027, with Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp pointing to early 2027 in June 30, 2026 remarks
Lander	8.05 m tall, 3.08 m diameter, 21,350 kg fueled; up to 3,000 kg of cargo to the lunar surface on a single New Glenn launch
Engine	One BE-7: dual-expander liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen, up to 44 kN, throttling down to 8.9 kN for landing
NASA payloads (CLPS delivery CT-3)	SCALPSS 1.x stereo cameras (plume-surface imaging during descent) and a Laser Retroreflector Array, bound for the lunar south pole
CLPS task order value	About $6.1 million (August 2024) to fly SCALPSS; small because Blue Origin funds the pathfinder mission itself as a demonstration
Name	First MK1 lander named Endurance on January 20, 2026, for Ernest Shackleton's ship, as it shipped to Houston for testing
Landing target	Shackleton Connecting Ridge, lunar south pole; NASA designated the flight Moon Base I at its May 26, 2026 Moon Base announcement
Environmental testing	Completed in Thermal Vacuum Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center, announced May 4, 2026
VIPER assignment	NASA release 25-064 (September 19, 2025): task order worth up to $190 million to deliver the VIPER rover on a second MK1, targeted late 2027; delivery option exercised only after review of the base task and the first MK1 flight
VIPER backstory	Canceled by NASA on July 17, 2024 on cost and schedule grounds after about $450 million spent, with the nearly finished rover kept intact; revived via the Blue Origin award
New Glenn record (as of Jul 2026)	Three flights: orbit on the January 16, 2025 debut; first booster landing with ESCAPADE on November 13, 2025; booster reflight April 19, 2026 that left its payload in a wrong orbit
Pad explosion	May 28, 2026: the next New Glenn, slated to carry Amazon Leo satellites, was destroyed during a static-fire test at Launch Complex 36, with extensive pad damage and no injuries
Return to flight	Blue Origin aims to fly New Glenn again before the end of 2026 (per CEO Dave Limp, June 30, 2026), shifting to hybrid vertical integration after losing its transporter-erector; NASA says its lunar plans can tolerate a slip into 2027

02Mission timeline

9 May 2019
Jeff Bezos unveils the Blue Moon lander program in Washington, DC
17 Jul 2024
NASA announces cancellation of the VIPER rover after about $450 million spent; the finished rover is preserved
Aug 2024
NASA awards Blue Origin CLPS task order CT-3, about $6.1 million, to fly SCALPSS on the MK1 pathfinder
16 Jan 2025
New Glenn reaches orbit on its first flight; the booster is lost during its landing attempt
19 Sep 2025
NASA assigns VIPER to a second Blue Moon MK1: task order worth up to $190 million, delivery targeted late 2027
13 Nov 2025
New Glenn's second flight launches NASA's ESCAPADE Mars probes and lands its booster at sea for the first time
20 Jan 2026
Blue Origin names the first MK1 lander Endurance and debuts its mission patch as the lander ships to Houston
19 Apr 2026
New Glenn's third flight reuses the recovered booster and lands it again, but an upper-stage malfunction strands the BlueBird 7 satellite in an unusable orbit
4 May 2026
NASA announces Endurance completed environmental testing in Johnson Space Center's Thermal Vacuum Chamber A
26 May 2026
NASA's Moon Base announcement brands the pathfinder flight Moon Base I and adds MK1 cargo delivery task orders ($188 million plus a $280.4 million option period)
28 May 2026
The next New Glenn is destroyed in a static-fire explosion at Launch Complex 36, heavily damaging the pad; no injuries
30 Jun 2026
At NASA's Moon Base event, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp outlines New Glenn return-to-flight plans and points the MK1 pathfinder to early 2027
Targeted Q1 2027
Pathfinder launch (as of Jul 2026), pending New Glenn return to flight and pad recovery
Targeted late 2027
VIPER delivery (as of Jul 2026), contingent on NASA exercising the option after the first MK1 flight

Teal dots: events that physically happened in flight or on the Moon. Grey: announcements, namings, contracts, and targets.

03The mission

Blue Moon Mark 1 is the uncrewed half of Blue Origin's two-lander Blue Moon family: an 8.05-meter-tall, hydrogen-fueled lander massing 21,350 kg fueled and rated to deliver 3,000 kg to the lunar surface, launched complete on a single New Glenn with no orbital refueling. Its single BE-7 engine, a dual-expander liquid-oxygen/liquid-hydrogen design producing up to 44 kN and throttling down to 8.9 kN for touchdown, is the same engine that will power the much larger crewed Blue Moon MK2 that Blue Origin is building for NASA's Artemis program. That is the program's real logic: MK1 flies first, largely on Blue Origin's own money, to retire the cryogenic propulsion, avionics and precision-landing risks before astronauts ride an MK2.

The first lander was named Endurance on January 20, 2026, after Ernest Shackleton's ship, as it shipped from Florida to Houston; it completed testing in the historic Thermal Vacuum Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center, announced May 4, 2026. The pathfinder mission is meant to demonstrate the BE-7 in flight, cryogenic propulsion, autonomous guidance, navigation and control, and landing within 100 meters of its target on the Shackleton Connecting Ridge near the lunar south pole. NASA is a paying passenger rather than the customer of record: under CLPS task order CT-3 (about $6.1 million, awarded August 2024) the lander carries the SCALPSS 1.x stereo cameras to image the engine plume carving into regolith, plus a Laser Retroreflector Array. At a May 26, 2026 event NASA folded the flight into its new Moon Base push as Moon Base I, and awarded Blue Origin two further MK1 cargo delivery task orders ($188 million, plus a $280.4 million option period) that would put lunar terrain vehicles on later MK1 landers ahead of a crewed Artemis landing targeted 2028 (as of May 2026).

The second MK1 carries the program's headline passenger. NASA canceled its VIPER ice-mapping rover in July 2024 on cost and schedule grounds after spending about $450 million and essentially finishing assembly, then kept the completed rover intact while it looked for a cheaper ride. On September 19, 2025 (release 25-064) the agency assigned VIPER to a second Blue Moon MK1 under a CLPS task order worth up to $190 million, targeting delivery to the lunar south pole in late 2027 (as of July 2026). The structure is deliberately conditional: a base phase pays Blue Origin to design how the lander accommodates and offloads the rover, and NASA exercises the actual delivery option only after reviewing both that work and the outcome of the first MK1 flight. VIPER would then spend roughly 100 days prospecting for water ice in and around permanently shadowed terrain.

Everything now waits on the rocket. New Glenn reached orbit on its January 16, 2025 debut, then landed its booster at sea for the first time while launching NASA's ESCAPADE Mars probes on November 13, 2025, and reflew that booster on April 19, 2026, a flight that still counted as a mishap after an upper-stage malfunction left the BlueBird 7 satellite in an unusable orbit. Just over five weeks later, on May 28, 2026, the next New Glenn was destroyed in a fireball during a pre-launch static fire at Launch Complex 36, heavily damaging Blue Origin's only operational New Glenn pad; no one was injured. Endurance itself was untouched (the destroyed rocket was assigned to an Amazon Leo satellite launch, and the lander was fresh out of testing in Houston), but the pathfinder's fall 2026 launch slot died with the rocket. At NASA's June 30, 2026 Moon Base event, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp pointed the pathfinder to early 2027 (NET Q1 2027 on launch manifests) and outlined a hybrid vertical-integration scheme, replacing the destroyed transporter-erector, meant to get New Glenn flying again before the end of 2026, a goal NASA says it can afford to see slip into 2027.

azmth files Blue Moon MK1 as a program rather than a single mission because that is what is now on the manifest: the Endurance pathfinder, the VIPER delivery, and two Moon Base cargo deliveries, all on the same lander design, with the crewed MK2 waiting behind them. The stakes are bigger than any one flight. MK1 is built to carry liquid hydrogen propulsion all the way to the lunar surface, a cryogenic capability NASA's Artemis architecture leans on, and VIPER's ice map is one of the datasets every south-pole base plan, American or Chinese, ultimately wants.

04In pictures

NASA's completed VIPER rover in a clean room at Johnson Space Center; a second Blue Moon MK1 is contracted to deliver it to the lunar south pole, targeted late 2027 (as of July 2026). Credit: NASA.

The high ridge running between Shackleton and de Gerlache craters at the lunar south pole, the Connecting Ridge terrain targeted by the Blue Moon MK1 pathfinder, seen obliquely by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University.

Shackleton crater with its permanently shadowed interior revealed, the south-polar neighborhood where the Blue Moon MK1 pathfinder is targeted to land and VIPER is meant to prospect for ice. Credit: Mosaic created by LROC (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) and ShadowCam teams with images provided by NASA/KARI/ASU.

Tap a photo to enlarge.

05Sources

azmth is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA, CNSA, Roscosmos, ISRO, JAXA, or any other space agency or company named on this page.

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