SpaceX Starship engine passes key test for Artemis 3 moon-landing mission (video)

SpaceX has fired its rocket's Raptor engine in cold lunar-like conditions.

The test aimed to show that the company's engine can restart in space after leaving Earth .

The company is preparing for a mission to the moon in 2025 or 2026 .

The Artemis 3 mission will be the third of the Artemis Accords , a NASA -led program.

While NASA was eventually cleared to go ahead with SpaceX 's contract, in September 2021 the Senate Appropriations Committee directed NASA to choose a second company to build a crewed Artemis lander. That began the new HLS bidding process that Blue Origin won. Senate officials also noted that NASA 's HLS program was not underfunded, which the agency had cited as justification for proceeding with only SpaceX. NASA 's $24.83 billion budget that fiscal year was a little more than the $24.8 billion that NASA requested, with most of the increase going to HLS..