As we have been reporting on Ars, NASA's Artemis II lunar mission has been going rather well so far. Of course, Orion's big test is yet to come with the fiery reentry through Earth's atmosphere on Friday. But so far, it's looking like the rocket and spaceship needed for a lunar landing are getting there for NASA.
Last year NASA asked both companies for options to accelerate their lunar landers, and both replied that not having to dock with the Lunar Gateway in a highly elliptical orbit, known as near-rectilinear halo orbit, would help a lot. So the space agency has removed that requirement.
Lori Glaze: Yeah, I think there will be a time we do that. You know, we've got their proposals. They've each brought in some good proposals.