Blue Origin Blue Moon Mk2 Engineering Mockup Now Operational at NASA JSC for Artemis IV Crew Training

NASA announced on May 11, 2026 that Blue Origin's National Team has delivered a full-scale engineering mockup of the Blue Moon Mark 2 crewed lunar lander cabin to NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. The mockup — standing over 15 feet tall — has been installed in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF) at JSC, where NASA crews will use it for human-in-the-loop testing, crew procedures development, emergency scenario training, equipment stowage drills, and simulated moonwalk preparation ahead of the Artemis IV crewed lunar landing (targeting 2028). The Blue Moon Mk2 cabin accommodates up to four astronauts and uses BE-7 engines running on liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen propellant for its descent stage. The engineering mockup enables NASA crews to practice ingress/egress procedures, hatch operations, suit-to-lander interface transitions, and emergency contingency scenarios under Earth gravity conditions before committing to orbital and lunar operations. This training cabin delivery is a significant milestone in Blue Origin's path toward the Artemis V+ crewed lunar landing mission, for which the company holds a $3.4 billion Option B Human Landing System contract. NASA's use of both SpaceX Starship HLS and Blue Origin Blue Moon mockups in parallel reflects the dual-provider HLS architecture designed to reduce single-point-of-failure risk in the Artemis lunar landing program.