Officials told Space.com in recent interviews that NASA looks forward to the successful development of the SpaceX Starship for use on the first mission to land a man on the moon in 50 years. SpaceX launched its new Starship and Super Heavy rockets into space on April 20. Although the ultra-high vehicle did not have time to enter orbit, SpaceX founder Elon Musk emphasized that his company is aiming for a new launch date as soon as possible.

Proven space experience will be key to one of Starship’s first missions: NASA’s Artemis 3 lunar lander, currently scheduled to land humans on the lunar surface before December 2025. Much of the planning for this moon landing mission will be provided by another venture: the Artemis 2 mission, now scheduled to send four astronauts around the moon late next year.

“We have to use information from our team to inform SpaceX, and sometimes they come back and ask us something,” Lisa Hammond, NASA’s utility manager for the Human Landing System, said in an April 3 interview at NASA’s Johnson. Space Center.

Speaking just hours after the Artemis 2 crew was named, Hammond said NASA had given SpaceX specific requirements to prepare the Starship. “The biggest part is the crew,” he added, noting that NASA has more than 60 years of manned spaceflight experience to share with multiple spacecraft systems.

SpaceX is also collecting some of its own data, as the company is already tasked with sending astronauts to the International Space Station with the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Standalone missions are also underway, such as the upcoming special Axiom Space Ax-2 mission, which will send four people to an orbiting laboratory on a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Hammond stressed that SpaceX “does a really great job” of keeping NASA informed as the Starship design evolves. He said the agency asked about metrics like engine design, crew housing and emergency exits. He said these conversations are “necessary to get us to a place where we trust the design so that we can confirm that we have a safe vehicle for crewed flights, and then know.”

The Artemis 3 plan involves using multiple spacecraft to reach the moon. Nicole Williams, chief of NASA’s Human Landing System office and director of crew insight, said they will board NASA’s Space Launch System rocket aboard the Orion spacecraft and then rendezvous with Starship in lunar orbit.

“The crew will transfer from the Orion spacecraft to the Starship and then land on the Moon’s surface, which will be great. It’s really exciting to just talk about it,” Williams said. “When the crew arrives on the Moon, it takes about a minute before returning to Orion.” will stay a week.

Hammond said SpaceX has pledged to share Starship flight test data to continue developing the Artemis 3 design, which will assist NASA in its plans to develop landing missions.

“It helps us manage our risks, understand where we want to go, and perhaps do an independent analysis to help any of them mature a little faster or a little bit better,” Hammond added.

Following the Starship launch attempt on April 20, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson expressed his support for the flight test.

“Every great success in history has required some level of calculated risk, because big risk pays big,” he tweeted hours after the launch attempt. “I look forward to everything SpaceX learns, the next flight test and beyond.”