As NASA’s moon-landing plans with SpaceX hang in the balance, other bold ideas are quietly starting to take shape.

SpaceX said it has pitched NASA a "simplified mission" to put astronauts back on the moon following criticisms over delays by Sean Duffy, the space agency's acting administrator.

Elon Musk's SpaceX on Thursday said it proposed to NASA a simplified plan to send humans to the moon using its Starship rocket, as the agency presses its contractors to move more quickly toward beating China to the lunar surface this decade.

Former NASA officials warn that the U.S. looks poised to lose its self-declared race to beat China to the moon

The dust-up over the lunar lander could pit Elon Musk against his billionaire rival Jeff Bezos. And it has already sparked a war of words between Musk and Nasa’s acting chief, Sean Duffy, which exposes fault lines over the direction and leadership of the US space agency.

As of Friday, Oct. 31, the moon phase is Waxing Gibbous. There will be 69% of the moon lit up tonight, according to NASA's Daily Moon Observation.

The longer the shutdown goes on, the more chaos will grow. Last month, NASA officials announced that Artemis 2 could launch as soon as February 5, roughly two months earlier than previously anticipated. Whether the agency can still keep itself to that commitment remains to be seen.

Despite the ongoing government shutdown, NASA did manage to complete a major milestone in its effort to send astronauts back to the moon.