An artist’s rendering of a Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 1 lunar lander deploying Astrolab’s Crewed Lunar Vehicle (CLV-1) on the surface of the Moon. Graphic: Astrolab

NASA has selected Blue Origin to play a major role in the agency’s expanding Moon Base initiative, which will involve three launches in a short time-frame.

NASA plans to build a planned moon base in three stages, starting with more frequent astronaut and cargo flights to the moon the develop the infrastructure needed to support…