Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

SpaceX will develop the lander to carry NASA astronauts to the moon

Georgina Torbet
By
Illustration of SpaceX Starship human lander design that will carry the first NASA astronauts to the surface of the Moon under the Artemis program.
Illustration of SpaceX Starship human lander design that will carry the first NASA astronauts to the surface of the Moon under the Artemis program. SpaceX

NASA has announced more of its plans for the Artemis mission, which aims to take humans back to the moon. The astronauts will be launched using the agency’s Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket it has ever developed, with the astronauts traveling in an Orion spacecraft.

But once they have traveled from Earth and arrived at the moon, a journey which will take several days, they will need a way to get from orbit to the moon’s surface. That’s where NASA is contracting out its requirements to industry. It has selected SpaceX to develop the lander to take humans to the surface, called the human landing system (HLS), in a contract worth $2.89 billion.

Related Videos

“With this award, NASA and our partners will complete the first crewed demonstration mission to the surface of the Moon in the 21st century as the agency takes a step forward for women’s equality and long-term deep space exploration,” said Kathy Lueders, NASA’s associate administrator for Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate, in a statement. “This critical step puts humanity on a path to sustainable lunar exploration and keeps our eyes on missions farther into the solar system, including Mars.”

There are some details about what the SpaceX HLS will involve, including the fact it will use SpaceX Raptor engines, similar to those used in the company’s Falcon 9 rockets. It will have a cabin for the crew, with two airlocks so the astronauts can access the lunar surface.

“This is an exciting time for NASA and especially the Artemis team,” said Lisa Watson-Morgan, program manager for HLS at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “During the Apollo program, we proved that it is possible to do the seemingly impossible: Land humans on the moon. By taking a collaborative approach in working with industry while leveraging NASA’s proven technical expertise and capabilities, we will return American astronauts to the moon’s surface once again, this time to explore new areas for longer periods of time.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Satellites like SpaceX’s Starlink are disrupting Hubble observations
The curving light streak created by an artificial satellite mars an image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronomers are once again worried about the effect that satellites like those used by SpaceX for its Starlink service will have on scientific research. A recent study looked at the effect that such satellites were having on observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and found that observations were already being impacted by the number of satellites nearby.

Telescopes like Hubble are particularly vulnerable to interference from satellites because of their location, in an area called low-Earth orbit (LEO). At less than 1,200 miles above the Earth's surface, this region is prime real estate for both scientific projects like Hubble and the International Space Station and for commercial projects like satellite megaconstellations.  While there have been satellites in this region for many years, recently the number of satellites has been rising dramatically, especially due to projects like Starlink which rely on having thousands of satellites in orbit.

Read more
SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts arrive safely at space station
The space station crew all together following the arrival of SpaceX's Crew-6 in March 2023.

SpaceX's four Crew-6 members have safely boarded the International Space Station (ISS) following a voyage that lasted about 27 hours.

NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:34 a.m. ET on Thursday and reached the orbital outpost about 24 hours later.

Read more
NASA eyes weather for Thursday’s Crew-6 launch. Here’s how it’s looking
From left, NASA astronauts Warren “Woody” Hoburg and Stephen Bowen, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and UAE (United Arab Emirates) astronaut Sultan Alneyadi, prepare to depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida during a dress rehearsal for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission launch on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023.

NASA and SpaceX are making final preparations for its first crewed launch since October 2022.

The Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) is set to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:34 a.m. ET on Thursday, March 2 (9:34 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1).

Read more