NASA officials on Tuesday detailed the space agency’s plans to establish a lunar base, where astronauts could live and work long-term with the ultimate goal of studying the moon and its origins, as well as how best to send the first humans to Mars.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin​, Astrolab, Lunar Outpost and Firefly Aerospace are awarded with hundreds of millions of dollars in NASA contracts for the first phase of its moon base plans.

NASA has awarded contracts worth nearly $1 billion to Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Astrolab, Lunar Outpost and Firefly Aerospace Inc. to build and deliver early infrastructure for a permanent moon base, the agency's first major commercial procurement push under

The first three missions are targeted to launch this year. They’ll involve lunar landers developed by several aerospace companies, including Blue Origin, and deliver scientific instruments and a rover

"Artemis 2 proved that NASA is ready for the next step."

NASA announced which two companies would be tasked to build lunar rovers for its future moon base as well as the company that will fly them there among other plans during an event from its Washington headquarters Tuesday.