After already making history by catching the Super Heavy rocket booster mid-air, SpaceX is set to try groundbreaking propellant transfer between starships from one orbiting Starship to another as soon as next March.
This important step will help prepare for a demonstration of a Starship landing on the moon without a crew, according to a NASA official.
Starship has been seen as a game-changer for the commercial space industry, but NASA is also counting on it to help bring humans back to the moon through its Artemis program. NASA awarded SpaceX a contract worth $4.05 billion for two Starships designed to carry astronauts to the moon’s surface for the first time since the Apollo missions. This crewed landing is planned for September 2026.
Kent Chojnacki, the deputy manager of NASA’s Human Landing System program, shared more about how NASA is collaborating with SpaceX in preparation for this important mission in an interview with Spaceflight Now. He noted that NASA is closely watching SpaceX’s test flights, which have included five launches so far.
In the latest test on October 13, SpaceX made history by catching the Super Heavy rocket booster mid-air using a system of “chopsticks” attached to the launch tower for the first time.
“We learn a lot each time [a launch] happens,” Chojnacki said.
Chojnacki has worked in various roles on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program, which is responsible for developing a large rocket. The first SLS rocket successfully launched the Artemis I mission in December 2023, and future rockets will support upcoming Artemis missions. Unlike SpaceX’s rockets, the SLS rockets are not reusable, costing NASA about $2 billion for each launch.
The initial contracts for the SLS program were awarded over ten years ago under a “cost-plus” model, meaning NASA pays a base price plus additional expenses. This model has faced criticism for leading to longer development times and higher costs. In contrast, the contracts for the Human Landing System are “fixed-price,” so SpaceX will receive a one-time payment of $2.99 billion if it meets specific milestones.
