NASA is planning a 250-mile-high “job interview” in space for the prize.
The US space agency is set to pit the rival billionaires’ spacecraft against each other in orbit after ripping up an initial timeline for its Artemis IV mission to land on the moon.
Whichever comes out on top could carry humans to the lunar surface in 2028 — the first landing there since 1972.
Musk’s SpaceX Starship landing system will face off with the Amazon chief’s smaller Blue Moon lander.
In Artemis III testing, both will dock in orbit with NASA’S Orion capsule, which carries the astronauts into space.
They will be tested for life support, propulsion, communications and spacewalk suits before the agency “puts the landers through their paces”.
It confirmed “one or both” will be involved in the mission next year, so both could be in orbit at the same time.
Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen travelled farther than any humans — 252,757 miles.
Their Orion capsule hit 26,000mph on return and endured 1,600C (2,900F) heat before a “bullseye” splashdown in the Pacific.
The astronauts were cheered as they emerged “happy and healthy” after their lunar flyby, with one even dancing, according to astrophysicist Prof Catherine Heymans.
At a moving press conference, Wiseman said: “I have absolutely no idea what to say. We are bonded forever.”
