WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman says it’s still considering whether to rejoin a Blue Origin-led team for a second Artemis lunar lander competition or to go on its own.

In a media briefing March 30 about the company’s overall contributions to the Artemis program, executives said they were “encouraged and excited” about NASA’s plans to procure a second lander through the new Sustaining Lunar Development effort announced March 23. That lander will join the one being developed by SpaceX and based on its Starship vehicle through Option A of the Human Landing System (HLS) program.

Northrop Grumman competed for the original HLS award as part of a “National Team” led by Blue Origin that also included Lockheed Martin and Draper. Northrop’s role in that effort was to provide a transfer element that would transport the lunar module from the Gateway to low lunar orbit.

It was Blue Origin’s fourth crewed spaceflight, and its first that didn’t feature a celebrity passenger.

A New Shepard rocket-capsule combo lifted off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas on Thursday morning (March 31), carrying six people to suborbital space.

Last September, the company launched its inaugural rocket but it was intentionally exploded minutes after lifting off.

Firefly Aerospace has a new majority owner as the Central Texas-based aerospace company prepares for its second rocket launch.

AE Industrial Partners, a private equity firm, has acquired a majority stake in Firefly Aerospace, the company announced.

The Cedar-Park-based company also raised $75 million in a funding round led by AE Industrial Partners. Firefly said it now estimates its valuation at more than $1 billion.

The planet’s defining feature is slowly disappearing.

Pete Davidson was initially slated to be the next headline-grabbing name to take flight aboard the suborbital space tourism rocket developed by Jeff Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, after the commercial space company launched several other famous faces on its previous flights.

But the comedian abruptly dropped out of the mission after a schedule change pushed the flight back by a week. His seat was given to longtime company employee Gary Lai, the chief architect of the very rocket he’ll fly on. Lai will be joined by five paying customers who had the means to dish out an undisclosed sum for one of the coveted crew capsule seats.

Liftoff of the New Shepard launch vehicle had been scheduled for Tuesday morning, but the company said that it’s expecting rough winds at its facilities near Van Horn, Texas at that time. Blue Origin is now targeting Thursday at 8:30 am CT. Those interested in catching the action — which is expected to look much like Blue Origin’s three earlier suborbital jaunts — can tune into Blue Origin’s webcast Thursday morning.