Firefly Joins $10 Billion NASA Moon Delivery Program

The 10-year CLPS 2 contract is an awarded vendor position, and no CLPS 2 mission has launched yet.

Updated on Nov. 8, 2026 in Space

Isometric editorial illustration of a generic low-slung lunar lander with splayed legs and a folded solar panel on cratered grey regolith under a black sky. — Firefly Aerospace was onboarded as a vendor under NASA's $10 billion CLPS 2 lunar delivery contract, a 10-year ordering window with task orders still to be awarded. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Firefly Aerospace was onboarded as a vendor under NASA's $10 billion CLPS 2 IDIQ contract, a 10-year ordering period for commercial lunar deliveries. The development is an awarded contract position, not a delivered mission, so no CLPS 2 landing is yet in hand.

Why it matters

NASA's CLPS 2 initiative is designed to increase the cadence of commercial deliveries to the Moon, and onboarding positions Firefly to bid on that work. The move follows Blue Ghost Mission 1, which landed on the Moon and completed its objectives in March 2025.

Firefly's Blue Ghost lander completed its Moon mission objectives in March 2025, and the company is ramping production of Blue Ghost landers and Elytra orbiters in an expanded cleanroom that can accommodate up to 12 spacecraft. The company has also demonstrated approximately 24-hour notice for a satellite launch to orbit. Specific performance benchmarks for the larger lander are not stated in the source.

The players

Firefly Aerospace

A Cedar Park, Texas company founded in 2017 that builds the Blue Ghost lunar lander and Elytra orbiters and has acquired SciTec and Space-ng.

NASA

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which awards the CLPS 2 contract and runs the Artemis program and planned Moon Base.

The details

CLPS 2 is an IDIQ contract, a vehicle that sets a total value and ordering window, with specific task orders issued later as NASA selects vendors for individual missions. Firefly is ramping up production of its Blue Ghost landers and Elytra orbiters in its expanded cleanroom, and it is using its AI software to enable autonomous guidance and descent operations on its larger lander. The larger lander is designed to deliver significantly more lunar cargo, terrain vehicles, infrastructure, and power systems.

March 2025: Blue Ghost Mission 1 landed on the Moon and completed its objectives.
November 7, 2026: Firefly announced its onboarding as a CLPS 2 vendor.
The CLPS 2 ordering period runs for 10 years.

The Tech Race

CLPS 2 extends NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services model with a $10 billion ceiling over 10 years, following the CLPS 1 awards that Firefly already holds. The contract places Firefly in a competitive field of commercial lunar lander providers seeking NASA delivery work.

The CLPS 2 award does not change any product available today, and no timeline for CLPS 2 missions was given in the source. For readers, the practical effect is that NASA has committed up to $10 billion across a decade to commercial lunar deliveries, which may expand the number of private Moon missions over time.

The takeaway

NASA's $10 billion CLPS 2 ceiling signals sustained federal demand for commercial Moon delivery over the next decade. Watch for the first CLPS 2 task order awards, which will show how many missions NASA actually funds under the new vehicle.