NASA, SpaceX Test Starship Lunar Lander Docking System for Moon Missions

From 1969 to 1972, six spacecraft carrying 12 astronauts were delivered to the surface of the Moon through the Apollo program. When that program ended, no human beings visited the Moon, and none have left Earth's orbit.

In 2017, NASA established a new Moon exploration program with the objective of sending astronauts back to the moon. Instead of just visiting the Moon, Artemis aims to establish a longer-term presence on our celestial neighbor. That goal requires more complexity than Apollo did since astronauts will need to transfer between vehicles to carry out lunar landings. All of that activity will need a reliable spacecraft docking system.

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons/ Ktklin)

One Small Step to the Moon

For several years, NASA has been working on the Space Launch System (SLS) and Lockheed Martin's Orion capsule, which will take astronauts to the Moon. However, it will take more than one spacecraft to take "one small step."

Astronautics company SpaceX is building the initial lander for the Artemis mission as a special variant of the Starship rocket. One of the customizations for the lunar mission includes a docking system that will allow astronauts to move between vehicles.

NASA will not use the SpaceX vehicle to send humans to the Moon. The launch and transportation will be up to the SLS and Orion capsule, which have completed their first mission so far. The said flight, Artemis I, went off without a hitch in late 2022.

SpaceX's contribution will focus on the Starship Human Landing System (HLS) for Artemis III and IV. NASA plans to transfer astronauts from Orion to Starship for the journey to and from the lunar surface.

Docking Port Test Completion

SpaceX and NASA recently completed over 200 docking scenarios together with Starship hardware. Engineers at Johnson Space Center spent ten days using hardware from the Starship lunar lander and NASA's Orion orbiter at different approach angles and speeds. According to the agency, the real-world results will validate computer models of the lunar lander's docking system.

The test put Starship into the active docking role, using its hardware as the "chaser" to the Orion target docking system. The test was meant to ensure that the soft capture system from SpaceX could extend to Orion while Orion's passive system remains retracted.

Starships have not yet reached Earth's orbit, but their lunar docking system has made a lot of flight heritage. In fact, it is based on the Dragon 2 docking system, which is used for the missions of the International Space Station. On future space missions after Artemis 3, Starship plans to dock with Orion with NASA's Gateway space station to transfer astronauts.

For quite a while, NASA has been concerned about the progress of SpaceX with Starship. According to NASA associate administrator Jim Free, SpaceX must successfully finish several launches before NASA gives the green light for Artemis. In its last update on February 27, NASA noted that SpaceX has spent over 30 HLS-specific milestones involving hardware for power generation and navigation system development.