<div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.5;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(51,51,51)">"SpaceX CEO <a href="https://www.space.com/18849-elon-musk.html" class="gmail-hawk-link-parsed" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(54,105,201);text-decoration-line:none">Elon Musk</a> says he may be able to launch the  company's massive new Starship to the moon for NASA "probably sooner" than the space agency's 2024 target even in the face of contract and other delays.</p><div id="gmail-ad-unit-1" class="gmail-ad-unit" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(51,51,51)"></div><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.5;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(51,51,51)"><a href="https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-super-heavy.html" class="gmail-hawk-link-parsed" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(54,105,201);text-decoration-line:none">Starship</a> was selected as <a href="https://www.space.com/spacex-wins-nasa-artemis-moon-lander-contest" class="gmail-hawk-link-parsed" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(54,105,201);text-decoration-line:none">NASA's lander of choice</a> for the Artemis human landing system (HLS) in April, but two situations held up the contract in the months since. </p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.5;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(51,51,51)"><a href="https://www.space.com/blue-origin-dynetics-protest-nasa-spacex-starship-moon-lander" class="gmail-hawk-link-parsed" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:inherit;font-family:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(54,105,201);text-decoration-line:none">First there were protests</a> by competitors Blue Origin and Dynetics, in part expressing concern about NASA's decision to select one provider instead of two (the companies cited lesser budgetary funds available for HLS as a probable cause)."</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 1em;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:1.5;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(51,51,51)"><a href="https://www.space.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-to-moon-sooner-2024">https://www.space.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-to-moon-sooner-2024</a><br></p><h1 style="margin:0px 0px 0.5rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;line-height:34px;font-family:"Open Sans",Arial,sans-serif;font-size:28px;vertical-align:baseline;color:rgb(51,51,51)"><br></h1></div>