Will Blue Origin build moon lander in Brevard County?
A new moon-landing vehicle, unveiled Thursday by Jeff Bezos, could be built in Brevard County if the state space agency gets its way.
The moon lander could carry NASA astronauts to the moon in five years.
Some of that road-building starts on the Space Coast, not only where the launch pads await, but where Bezos has built a rocket factory to create some of the largest rockets ever made.
Blue Origin is a private enterprise, but at an invitation-only event Thursday, Bezos hinted it could all be part of NASA's five-year plan to get to the moon.
Vice President Mike Pence announced the plan in March, but indicated the government's planned super-rocket might be too expensive and too far behind schedule, compared with one that is privately build, or commercial rockets.
"If commercial rockets are the only way to get Americans to the moon in the next five years, then commercial rockets it will be," Pence said.
A moon lander is the main thing NASA lacks in its plan to return to the moon. Bezos said he can provide it, optimized to be launched on Brevard-built New Glenn rockets.
The new vision could see New Glenn rockets carrying Blue Moon landers to a NASA-built gateway orbiting the moon.
Astronauts could board Bezos' lander for a ride to the moon's surface in the next five years