SpaceX's Starship Human Landing System (HLS) is being built to take humanity back to the Moon and help establish something far bigger: a permanent human presence beyond Earth NASA selected SpaceX to develop an entirely new kind of lunar lander, and the scale of this spacecraft is absolutely extraordinary Standing roughly 50 meters tall, Starship is designed with over 600 cubic meters of pressurized habitable space, roughly two-thirds the pressurized volume of the entire International Space Station And under NASA's updated Artemis architecture, Starship HLS will do far more than land astronauts. It is now planned to dock with Orion in Earth orbit, propel both spacecraft toward the Moon, and then transport astronauts to the lunar surface and back to Orion in lunar orbit The engineering behind this spacecraft is incredible: • Powered by Raptor engines using liquid methane and liquid oxygen • Uses orbital refueling with Starship tankers and propellant depots to enable lunar missions • Designed with pressurized crew quarters, life-support systems, and airlocks • Features an elevator to transport astronauts and cargo between the spacecraft and the lunar surface • Designed to support sustained lunar exploration and extended surface operations • Dedicated cargo variants are designed to deliver up to 100 metric tons directly to the Moon, including habitats, rovers, and other massive equipment needed for a permanent lunar base The Apollo program proved humanity could reach the Moon, but Starship is being built to take lunar exploration to an entirely different scale NASA's long-term ambition goes far beyond planting flags and collecting samples. It's about building the infrastructure for sustained exploration, scientific research, and eventually a permanent human presence on the Moon And Starship HLS is a critical part of making that possible SpaceX is building the technology that will take humanity from visiting other worlds to eventually living on them