Starship HLS

Starship HLS, the Human Landing System, is a lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft that is slated to carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. It is being designed and built by SpaceX under the Human Landing System contract with NASA as a critical element of the Artemis program. The mission plan has a Super Heavy booster launch the HLS ship into Earth orbit, where it is refueled by several Starship tanker spacecraft before it docks with the crewed Orion spacecraft, performs its translunar injection burn, and descends to the surface for a stay of about seven days with four planned moonwalks. NASA awarded SpaceX the contract in April 2021. Like other Starship variants, the HLS ship uses six Raptor engines for launch and most of the landing and ascent, and burns gaseous oxygen and methane in landing engines placed in its mid-body.