AVweb In the early days of the space program, a famous quote was attributed to multiple astronauts, but Alan Shepardâs version was the most succinct. When he was asked what he was thinking about sitting atop the fueled Redstone rocket, he replied, âThe fact that every part of this ship was built by the lowest bidder.â The astronaut candidates primed for the next Moon missionâaspirationally planned for 2024âmust be thinking the same thing now that SpaceX has been awarded the lowest-bid contract to develop the next lunar lander. They must also be eyeing SpaceXâs impressively consistent record of exploding rockets down in Texas, because thatâs the very flight hardware theyâll be riding to the lunar surface. Or at least some version of it.