When NASA moved up its deadline to bring back U.S. astronauts to the Moon from 2028 to 2024, everyone believed that the U.S. space agency would be tapping the services of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The private space agency seemed like the most probable choice since Musk’s company was fresh from the success of the first unmanned SpaceX Dragon Crew mission to the International Space Station. However, recent mishaps such as last month’s explosion of the Crew Dragon during a static test run may have hurt SpaceX’s chance to be part of the next major NASA mission.

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine recently said that the only way to get back to the lunar surface is via the space agency’s own launch systems SLS and Orion.

"I want to be clear about SLS and Orion... SLS and Orion is the only system that gives us any chance of getting there in 2024. We've looked at everything, we've considered everything and SLS and Orion, that is the system. And once it's developed, we will use it over and over and over again," said Bridenstine.

According to CNET, NASA's “Artemis” mission has always included the use of SLS (Space Launch System) rockets and the Orion crew capsule. However, the system was deemed not yet ready for any deep space mission.

So when President Donald Trump urged NASA to move to an earlier deadline for a moonshot, the U.S. space agency considered various alternatives including the use of private rockets that are part of NASA’s commercial crew program. SpaceX and Boeing are the leading companies for this option.

The NASA administrator first considered launching the Orion on top of commercial spacecraft such as the SpaceX Falcon Heavy, but this plan has drastically changed in the recent weeks. Now the space agency has returned its focus on getting the SLS ready.

If all things go as scheduled, NASA will be launching an unmanned Moon mission next year using the SLS and Orion. An orbiting crew will then follow in the year 2022, before finally landing on the lunar surface in the year 2024.

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Pictured is the exterior of SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California as seen on July 22, 2018. ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
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