This week, the space agency said it had selected five US companies to conduct additional work toward refining lunar lander concepts to take astronauts down to the Moon's surface later this decade.

“Establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon through recurring services using lunar landers is a major Artemis goal,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA’s chief of human spaceflight, in a statement.

The awards come about five months after NASA selected SpaceX to refine its Starship vehicle for a demonstration Moon landing and a subsequent crew landing on the Moon.

The space agency said the awards announced this week would "ultimately help shape the strategy and requirements for a future NASA's solicitation to provide regular astronaut transportation from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon." The amount of those future "recurring services" awards will be determined by Congressional appropriations.

After the SpaceX award in April, the other two finalists for a lunar lander contract, the Blue Origin-led National Team and Dynetics, protested to the US Government Accountability Office.

Blue Origin and two other National Team members—Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman—were among the winners of the new, smaller awards this week.

One of these companies, Northrop Grumman, said it remained committed to the National Team but was also keeping its options open.

“We continue to work in partnership with Blue Origin and the National Team to meet NASA’s ambitious goals to return to the Moon and Mars," said Steve Krein, vice president of Civil and Commercial Satellites for Northrop Grumman.