(SOUNDBITE) (English) BILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEUR JEFF BEZOS, FOUNDER OF ROCKET COMPANY BLUE ORIGIN, SAYING: "It's time to go back to the moon -- this time, to stay." Jeff Bezos on Thursday unveiled a planned mission to the moon with his rocket company Blue Origin.

Bezos revealed a mockup of a lunar lander spacecraft and discussed a strategy tailored to the U.S. government's renewed push to establish a lunar outpost in just five years.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) BILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEUR JEFF BEZOS, FOUNDER OF ROCKET COMPANY BLUE ORIGIN, SAYING: "It's the stated policy of this administration and the United States of America to return American astronauts to the moon within the next five years.

I love this.

It's the right thing to do." The Bezos announcement came about two months before the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.

The Amazon founder and world's richest man said that the lander, named Blue Moon, could deliver payloads to the moon's surface.

Bezos described the lander as a nearly two-story tall spacecraft that can deploy four smaller lunar rovers on the moon's surface.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) BILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEUR JEFF BEZOS, FOUNDER OF ROCKET COMPANY BLUE ORIGIN, SAYING: “A very fundamental long-range problem is that we will run out of energy on Earth.

The good news is, if we move out into the solar system, for all practical purposes, we have unlimited resources.” Bezos, who has talked about his broader vision of enabling a future in which millions of people live and work in space, is angling to become a leading player in space exploration and win business from the U.S. government… though has been the target of repeated criticism from President Donald Trump.

The rare media event for the billionaire comes a few months after he accused the National Enquirer of trying to blackmail him.