Tag: HLS
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NASA Artemis III Demo Will Fly Two HLS Landers in 2027
Does NASA’s 2027 Artemis III Mission Actually Land on the Moon? No — and that distinction matters enormously for anyone tracking the Artemis Program schedule. NASA’s Artemis III, currently planned for 2027, is a crewed rendezvous-and-docking demonstration in low Earth orbit and cislunar space, not a lunar surface landing. The actual crewed Moon landing is…
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NASA assigns crew for Artemis III, sets aggressive timeline for flying it
The US space agency unveiled the crew for its Artemis III mission on Tuesday during an enthusiastic event at Johnson Space Center in Houston. For this spaceflight into low-Earth orbit, which will see the Orion spacecraft rendezvous and dock with lunar lander prototypes, NASA chose an experienced, all-male crew with military backgrounds. They were revealed…
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After New Glenn anomaly, Blue Origin keeps focus on upcoming Blue Moon and Mars missions
Following the damaging loss of New Glenn during hotfire testing at Launch Complex 36 in late May, Blue Origin is moving quickly to get its massive orbital rocket back to flight by the end of the year. New Glenn’s launch manifest remains filled, and several of its most important upcoming missions will launch Blue Origin’s…
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NASA announces major overhaul of Artemis moon program: “We’ve got to get back to basics”
Artist concept of a SpaceX Starship lunar lander on the surface of the moon. Image: SpaceX. New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a major overhaul of the agency’s Artemis moon program Friday, acknowledging that the agency’s plan to land astronauts on the moon in 2028 was not realistic without another preparatory mission first to lay…
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NASA Opens Competition for Artemis III Lunar Lander
NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy revealed that the agency is reopening the contract for the first U.S. crewed lunar landing since the 1970s, inviting proposals from companies beyond SpaceX’s Starship. The move aims to accelerate the Artemis III mission and ensure American astronauts return to the Moon’s surface before China’s planned landing by 2030, amid…
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SpaceX McGregor looks to the future, from Raptor 3 to potential HLS testing
SpaceX’s engine development and testing site in McGregor—the world’s most active rocket engine test facility—continues to be a hive of activity. Recent updates reveal intensified Raptor engine trials and the construction of a large-scale rig, the latter having ignited speculation about its potential ties to Starship’s Human Landing System (HLS) for NASA’s Artemis program. Since…
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Final ML-2 tower module added as Artemis and SLS Block 1B receive a funding reprieve
Mobile Launcher 2 (ML-2), the launch tower and platform to be used by the Block 1B variant of the Space Launch System (SLS), recently had its tenth and final tower module stacked on July 2. Module 10 will support the Orion crew access arm and related systems, and its installation brings the ML-2 tower’s height…
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SpaceX readies a redo of last month’s ill-fated Starship test flight
SpaceX plans to launch the eighth full-scale test flight of its enormous Starship rocket as soon as Monday after receiving regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. The test flight will be a repeat of what SpaceX hoped to achieve on the previous Starship launch in January, when the rocket broke apart and showered debris…
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On-time Artemis landings by SpaceX, Blue Origin possible, but face “great challenges”
Lisa Watson-Morgan, program manager for the Human Landing System program, moderates a fireside chat with Benji Reed, Sr. Director of Human Spaceflight Programs at SpaceX (left) and John Couluris, Sr. VP of Lunar Transportation at Blue Origin. Image: Will Robinson-Smith After a successful mission with Artemis 1 in November, 2022, and with the pieces of…
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On-time Artemis landings by SpaceX, Blue Origin possible, but face “great challenges”
Lisa Watson-Morgan, program manager for the Human Landing System program, moderates a fireside chat with Benji Reed, Sr. Director of Human Spaceflight Programs at SpaceX (left) and John Couluris, Sr. VP of Lunar Transportation at Blue Origin. Image: Will Robinson-Smith After a successful mission with Artemis 1 in November, 2022, and with the pieces of…