In 2021, NASA signed a nearly $3 billion contract with his SpaceX to use its new Starship mega-rocket as the lunar lander for the first Artemis astronauts. SpaceX is preparing for its third Starship launch atop its enormous super-heavy booster.As part of NASA's Artemis campaign to return humans to the Moon for the benefit of all, the agency is working with SpaceX to develop the company's Starship human landing system (HLS), which will land astronauts near the Moon's South Pole during the Artemis III and Artemis IV missions.As of 2024, Starship is in development with an iterative and incremental approach, involving test flights of prototype vehicles, which often end in the destruction of the test vehicle. As a successor to SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, Starship will perform a wide range of space missions.

Will Starship take us to Mars : SpaceX's Starship rocket will be on Mars by the end of the decade and a future version will travel between the stars, billionaire Elon Musk said on Monday, days after the company celebrated major progress after the rocket's third test flight as it works with NASA to return astronauts to the moon.

Is NASA still a thing

At its 20 centers and facilities across the country – and the only National Laboratory in space – NASA studies Earth, including its climate, our Sun, and our solar system and beyond. We conduct research, testing, and development to advance aeronautics, including electric propulsion and supersonic flight.

Is NASA working with SpaceX to go to the Moon : NASA has contracted SpaceX and Blue Origin to provide landing systems to take astronauts to the Moon's surface from lunar orbit, beginning with Artemis III. The agency has asked the two companies to develop cargo versions of their human lunar landers as an option under their existing contracts.

The crew of Artemis III will ride to lunar orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft, where Orion will dock with the Starship human landing system in preparation for their journey to the lunar surface. Orion is the only spacecraft capable of returning crews to Earth at lunar reentry velocities.

NASA is worried that SpaceX's giant new Starship vehicle won't be ready to carry astronauts to the surface of the moon in late 2025, as currently planned.

Will Starship carry humans

SpaceX considers the Starship system crucial to its founding mission: to carry humans to Mars for the first time. And critically, NASA has chosen Starship as the landing vehicle that will ferry its astronauts to the lunar surface on the Artemis III mission slated to take off as soon as September 2026.The maximum thrust of the Saturn V rocket that took NASA astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program was relatively paltry: 7.6 million pounds. An even more transformative feature of Starship is that it is designed to be entirely reusable.Tonight's SpaceX launch—if successful—will be major milestone towards Elon Musk's plan to send humans to Mars. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Nova-C lander for the IM-1 mission stands ready for launch on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on February 13, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. One small step for man.

Starship is the landing system that will bring astronauts to the lunar surface with the Artemis 3 mission, no earlier than 2026.

What year did NASA end : July 21, 2011 • The last NASA space shuttle mission into space has ended.

Has NASA left the galaxy : Humanity's great leap into interstellar space – the space between the stars – is underway. NASA's Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes are both in interstellar space.

Is NASA using SpaceX for Artemis

NASA has contracted SpaceX and Blue Origin to provide landing systems to take astronauts to the Moon's surface from lunar orbit, beginning with Artemis III. The agency has asked the two companies to develop cargo versions of their human lunar landers as an option under their existing contracts.

Apollo 17 became the last crewed mission to the Moon, for an indefinite amount of time. The main reason for this was money. The cost of getting to the Moon was, ironically, astronomical.The crew of four astronauts will launch on the Block 1 configuration of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida . SLS is the only rocket capable of launching crew to the Moon aboard Orion.

Why doesn’t NASA use SpaceX for Artemis : NASA is worried that SpaceX's giant new Starship vehicle won't be ready to carry astronauts to the surface of the moon in late 2025, as currently planned.