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The Starship Human Landing System program includes the development and operational use of several Starship spacecraft variants by SpaceX, including the Starship HLS ship—optimized to operate on and in the vicinity of the Moon—as well as a Starship depot that will store propellant in Earth orbit, and the Starship tanker designed to fly multiple trips to orbit from Earth's surface to ...
The Starship HLS is a modified configuration of SpaceX's Starship spacecraft, optimized to operate on and around the Moon. As a result, the heat shield and flight control surfaces — parts of the main Starship design needed for atmospheric re-entry — are not included in Starship HLS. The entire spacecraft will land on the Moon and will then ...
A similar test occurred during Starship's third test flight, though the transfer during that test was between two tanks on the same vehicle. [2] The ability to refuel a Starship in low orbit is critical for the Artemis program, [3] as Starship HLS requires approximately ten tanker launches to reach the lunar surface. [1]
When stacked and fully fueled, Starship has a mass of approximately 5,000 t (11,000,000 lb), [c] a diameter of 9 m (30 ft) [17] and a height of 121.3 m (398 ft). [6] The rocket has been designed with the goal of being fully reusable to reduce launch costs; [18] it consists of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage [19] which are powered by Raptor and Raptor Vacuum engines.
Artemis III is planned to be the first crewed Moon landing mission of the Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Starship HLS lander. [5] Artemis III is planned to be the second crewed Artemis mission and the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972. [6]
The Block 2 version of Starship is 52.1 m (171 ft) tall, 9 m (30 ft) wide, [1] and is composed of four general sections: the engine bay, the oxygen tank, the fuel tank, and the payload bay. [2] The retired Block 1 was constructed in a similar manner, though it was only 50.3 m (165 ft) tall.
Starship vehicles have been launched 7 times, resulting in 4 successes (57.14%), and 3 failures. Starship Block 1 was launched six times between April 2023 and November 2024, with the ship retired ahead of the seventh flight. [10] Block 1 boosters are expected to fly further into the future. [11]
It is the second human lunar lander under contract by NASA for the Artemis HLS program, alongside Starship HLS. [11] It is intended to carry up to 4 astronauts to the lunar surface for up to 30 days in a fully reusable configuration, with a cargo variant also planned. [ 2 ]