McCandless Lunar Lander

On 29 November 2018, NASA announced the first nine companies, including Lockheed Martin, that are allowed to bid on contracts by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS).

[2] The contracted landers will transport commercial payloads focused on exploration, in situ resource utilization (ISRU), and lunar science.

[citation needed] The McCandless lander is named in honor of the late astronaut and former Lockheed Martin employee Bruce McCandless II, who in 1984 performed the first free-flying spacewalk without a lifeline to the orbiting Space Shuttle, using a jetpack built by the company.

[4] The lander is being proposed to the new Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS) to deliver to the lunar surface up to 250 kg (550 lb) of usable payload,[5][1] including stationary scientific instruments, small deployable rovers, ISRU experiments, or even sample-return vehicles.

[4][1] The lander's system incorporates on-board radars and a set of rocket thrusters for deceleration and soft-landing.

The lander is named in honor of Bruce McCandless II (1937–2017), who first used the company's MMU jetpack during STS-41-B in 1984