Who will get to the moon first? NASA or SpaceX?

…Government space agency NASA and private commercial company SpaceX work alongside one another, both now are gunning for the moon, with each planning to launch a rocket from Florida’s Space Coast.

Big firms like Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT), Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), United Launch Alliance, Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA) and Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE: AJRD) are helping develop NASA’s rocket and space capsule.

SpaceX expects to make a round trip there using its Falcon Heavy rocket, while NASA plans to do the same using its Space Launch System rocket. However, each have a different timeline to complete the mission, and SpaceX is planning to do so nearly two years before NASA.

“It’s a reflection of competition again driving a race for exploration,” Ketcham told Orlando Business Journal. “Competition with the Russians is what got us to the moon initially, and competition with the government will get us back to the moon sooner.”

Read article here: https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2017/03/08/race-to-the-moon-between-spacex-nasa-could-drive.html