Prototypes are neat. I wonder what the full story behind the scenes is on this one, like if keeping up with their original design will get them to the moon first, which will be huge for testing out plenty of systems that will get used on mk2.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Blue Origin, recently showed off the “low-fidelity” mock-up to NASA officials at the company’s engine production facility in Huntsville, Alabama.

The vehicle is undoubtedly large and will take advantage of the 23-foot-wide (7-meter) payload volume on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.

The company is developing the Mark 1 as a predecessor to the larger Mark 2 lander, which will ferry astronauts to and from the lunar surface under contract to NASA, which selected Blue Origin as its second human-rated lunar lander contractor in May, alongside SpaceX.

NASA’s first landing target for Artemis is the lunar south pole, where scientists have discovered evidence for large deposits of water ice in the bottoms of dark craters.

With its $3.4 billion fixed-price Human Landing System (HLS) contract with NASA, Blue Origin will be responsible for transporting astronauts between lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon, then back into space, on the Artemis V mission.

Then SpaceX plans to fly an unpiloted demonstration mission to land Starship on the Moon, ahead of the first crew flight.

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