NASA managers tasked with humanity’s next journey into deep space spoke positively about Starship’s recent test flight, the data gathered, and the resulting design changes that will be incorporated into the next test launch. While launch site repairs continue at Starbase ahead of the continuation of the test campaign that is targeting an orbital success this year, SpaceX is expected to launch a large number of Starships before entering the human landing system (HLS) contract, involving numerous tanker vehicles and a crewed lander. SpaceX was awarded the HLS Option A contract in 2021, which calls for a demonstration of the various elements of the system. This includes docking the lander to the Orion spacecraft, transferring the crew from Orion to the lander in lunar orbit, conducting an extravehicular activity after landing on the lunar surface, and returning the crew and other materials from the surface. Option A included both uncrewed and crewed demonstration missions. This contract was followed by SpaceX winning HLS Option B in late 2022, which covers the Artemis IV mission to the Moon. NASA is set to announce a second HLS lander option “to develop a sustainable human landing system for the Artemis V Moon mission,” on…
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NASA looking forward to next Starship test, HLS integration
