NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Crewed Lunar Demo

Launch Time
NET 3rd Quarter, 2026

First manned landing on the Moon since the end of NASA's Apollo program in 1973.

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Rocket

Starship HLS
SpaceX
Status: Planned
Liftoff Thrust: 74,432 kN
Payload to LEO: 200,000 kg
Stages: 2
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 121.0 m
Fairing Diameter: 9.0 m

Mission Details

HLS Crewed Lunar Demo

HLS Crewed Lunar Demo is the second of two missions contracted by NASA to SpaceX. It will be carried out by Starship HLS under the Artemis Program. HLS will be launched to low-earth orbit, where it will dock with and refuel from a Starship propellant depot. From there it will undock and perform a trans-lunar injection burn and enter NRHO (Near-rectilinear halo orbit). It will loiter until an Orion spacecraft crewed with four astronauts as part of the Artemis III mission arrive, at which point the two spacecraft will dock, two astronauts will transfer into Starship HLS, undock again and descend to the Lunar surface. The two astronauts will spend several days on the surface, after which HLS will lift off, rendezvous and dock with Orion once more, completing its mission.

Lunar orbit

Location

LC-39A Starship Pad, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA