Image: SpaceX
SpaceX has shared a major update on its progress toward landing humans on the Moon under NASA’s Artemis program, outlining dozens of milestones completed as part of its Starship Human Landing System (HLS) development.
The company said that, in parallel with the core Starship vehicle’s advancement, its HLS team has now completed 49 milestones tied to developing the subsystems, infrastructure, and operations needed to safely land astronauts on the lunar surface. SpaceX’s Starship HLS will ferry astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface starting with NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, which is currently targeting a mid-2027 launch.
NASA awarded SpaceX a multibillion-dollar contract in 2021 to develop the Starship HLS, marking the first crewed lunar lander since Apollo more than five decades ago. While NASA funds specific progress milestones under a fixed-price contract, SpaceX said it is self-funding more than 90% of total system costs — including Starship production, test, and launch infrastructure in Texas, Florida, and California.
Among the completed HLS milestones are tests of Starship’s life support systems using a full-scale cabin module, docking adapter qualifications for connecting with NASA’s Orion spacecraft, landing leg drop tests on simulated lunar soil, and Raptor engine throttle tests for controlled lunar descent. SpaceX has also demonstrated key technologies such as micrometeoroid shielding, precision landing sensors, and communications systems that will support crewed operations on the Moon.
Image: SpaceX
“Starship will bring the United States back to the Moon before any other nation and it will enable sustainable lunar operations by being fully and rapidly reusable, cost-effective, and capable of high frequency lunar missions with more than 100 tons of cargo capacity,” SpaceX said.
“To date, SpaceX has produced more than three dozen Starships and 600 Raptor rocket engines, with more than 226,000 seconds of run time on the Raptor 2 engine and more than 40,000 seconds of run time on the next-generation Raptor 3 engine. There have been 11 Starship-only flight tests and 11 integrated flight tests of Starship and Super Heavy. In parallel, SpaceX has constructed, and continues to construct, new Starship launch, production, integration, and test facilities in Texas, Florida, and California.”
Next up, SpaceX plans several flight tests tied to HLS development, including a long-duration mission and an in-space propellant transfer demonstration using its next-generation Starship V3 rocket. The V3 architecture is expected to fly for the first time before the end of this year, with an accelerated testing cadence planned throughout 2026. SpaceX retired its Starship V2 design earlier this month following the system’s 11th flight test, which achieved all mission objectives.
Image: SpaceX
Looking further ahead, SpaceX recently unveiled plans to begin commercial Starship cargo flights to the Moon by 2028, priced at $100 million per metric ton of payload. These flights will lay the groundwork for long-term lunar infrastructure, ahead of future crewed missions to Mars.
SpaceX says its rapid pace of testing and billions of dollars in private investment — spanning more than five million square feet of production space and five launch pads across Texas and Florida — are key to enabling sustainable, cost-effective lunar operations.
