WASHINGTON — NASA issued a final version of its call for proposals for a human lunar lander system Sept. 30, giving companies the option to at least initially bypass the lunar Gateway. The Human Landing System solicitation, part of NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program, seeks proposals from U.S. companies for the development of human landers. Those proposals are due to NASA Nov. 1. The final version of the solicitation, formally known as Appendix H, incorporates comments industry provided to an initial draft, published July 19 , and a second draft, published Aug. 30 . NASA received more than 1,150 comments to the two drafts, the agency said. Those comments resulted in some modifications intended to streamline the process and give companies more flexibility. One of the biggest is that NASA will no longer require lunar landers to dock with the lunar Gateway to serve as a staging point, at least for initial missions to the lunar surface. “The
