SpaceX · destination program

Moon to Mars

How SpaceX plans to use Starship to land NASA astronauts on the Moon, then go on to Mars.

Start with the basics The plan Starship, the rocket

The basics

What is Moon to Mars?

This page follows what Starship is ultimately for. NASA has hired SpaceX to turn Starship into a Moon lander, called , that carries astronauts from lunar down to the surface and back. After the Moon, SpaceX wants to send uncrewed cargo Starships to Mars, then people.

The Starship page tracks the rocket’s test flights. This page tracks the bigger steps those flights build toward, above all, a Starship in orbit, which any Moon or Mars trip needs and which hasn’t been done yet.

Moon lander: Starship HLS; One of two landers NASA has hired
First crewed landing: 2028; NASA’s target, on Artemis IV
Still to prove: Refueling in space; Needed before any Moon trip
Mars: Cargo first; Then crews, on later trips

Rocket words on this page, explained16 words

Words with a dotted underline anywhere on this page can be tapped for a quick definition.

Super Heavy: Starship’s booster, the giant bottom half with 33 engines. It lifts everything off the ground, separates a few minutes later, and flies back.
Ship (numbered): A specific Starship upper stage, the top half that goes to space. SpaceX numbers each one it builds, and each test flight uses a new number.
Flight number: Starship test flights are numbered in order. Each one launches a fresh booster-and-ship pair and tries something the last one didn’t.
Cryo test: Filling the tanks with super-cold liquid to check they hold pressure without leaking. It happens before engines go in.
Stack: Putting rocket pieces on top of one another so they form the full rocket. For Starship, it means lifting the ship onto the booster at the pad.
Orbit: Going fast enough (about 28,000 km/h or 17,500 mph) to keep falling around the Earth instead of back down. Reaching orbit is the big step from test hops to real missions.
Splashdown: Landing in the ocean. Test vehicles often splash down on purpose so a mistake can’t hurt anyone.
Tower catch: SpaceX’s trick for landing: a returning booster (or ship) slows to a hover beside the launch tower and giant mechanical arms grab it.
Starbase: SpaceX’s Starship factory and launch site at the southern tip of Texas, near Brownsville. It’s now an official city.
Heat shield: Thousands of black tiles on one side of the ship that protect it from the 1,400 °C heat of falling back through the atmosphere.
LEO: Low Earth orbit. It sits a few hundred kilometres up, where the International Space Station flies.
TLI: Trans-lunar injection: the engine burn that sends a spacecraft out of Earth orbit toward the Moon.
HLS: Human Landing System, the lunar lander NASA hired to carry astronauts down to the Moon’s surface. SpaceX’s is a version of Starship. Blue Origin’s is Blue Moon.
Refueling in orbit: Pumping fuel from one Starship to another in space. A Moon-bound Starship burns most of its fuel just reaching orbit, so it has to fill up again there.
Orion: NASA’s crew capsule. It carries Artemis astronauts to the Moon and back and splashes down in the ocean.
Artemis: NASA’s program to return astronauts to the Moon. Missions are numbered I, II, III, IV.

Where it stands

Right now

Next big step: Refuel in orbit: Tanker loop
Where it stands: Orbit next · transfer still ahead

The road to the Moon and Mars

The big steps between today’s test flights and astronauts on the Moon. After that come cargo, and later crews, on Mars.

Flight-test the vehicleProve the stack · 2023 onward
Starship and fly as one vehicle from . Every , lander, and Mars ship uses this .
Underway
Underway
Refuel in orbitTanker loop · Next
ship to ship transfer fills a departing Starship in , the gate that opens a lunar landing and Mars.
Up next
Up next
Dock in Earth orbitArtemis III · Mid-2027
NASA’s mid-2027 plan is a crewed docking demo with Starship and/or Blue Moon pathfinders in low Earth , not a landing.
Ahead
Ahead
Uncrewed lunar landingHLS demo · To come
NASA still requires an uncrewed Starship HLS landing (and ascent) before crew board the lander. No official demonstration window has been published.
Ahead
Ahead
Crew to the south poleArtemis IV · 2028
NASA’s current target for the first crewed landing is early 2028. Which provider flies it, Starship HLS or Blue Moon, depends on who is ready.
Ahead
Ahead
Uncrewed transferMars cargo · Ahead
Cargo Starships leave during a transfer window using the same tanker architecture a lunar lander needs. No public cargo-ship assignment exists yet.
Ahead
Ahead

Landing on the Moon

How Starship lands on the Moon

It takes more than one launch. A Starship lander goes to orbit, gets refilled by tanker Starships, then flies to the Moon to meet the astronauts. NASA’s first crewed landing is planned for Artemis IV.

Launch
lifts a Starship from . and variants share this ascent before their missions diverge.
Refuel
Tanker Starships top off the lander in until it holds enough propellant for .
Rendezvous
HLS flies to near-rectilinear halo and meets . Two crew transfer in for descent.
Surface
The lander touches down near the south pole for roughly a week of EVAs, then returns the crew to Orion.

One rocket, four jobs

One rocket, four versions

Every version is built on the same Starship that is test-flying from Texas today. They differ in what they carry and where they go.

Vehicle campaign

The flying stack

Ship + Super Heavy

Every destination variant launches on the same booster and ship architecture now in flight test at Starbase.

NASA lunar lander

Human Landing System

Landing legs, elevators, and surface systems instead of an Earth-return heat shield. NASA has not assigned the first crewed landing to this vehicle alone, Blue Moon is the other HLS.

The missing loop

Tanker / depot

A fleet of tankers fills a departing ship in low Earth orbit. Without this, HLS and Mars stay in charts.

Entry, descent, landing

Mars ship

Heat shield and EDL for a thin CO₂ atmosphere, then cargo first and crew later across a 26-month window.

For enthusiasts

That’s the whole story. Everything below is the detail.

Every program milestone, our readiness signals for each destination, and sources.

Program milestones

Milestones so far

4 of 8 big milestones done. Refueling in orbit is the next big step. A Moon landing can’t happen without it.

HLS contract awardedApr 2021
NASA selected SpaceX Starship as the to return crews to the lunar surface.
Done
Done
Integrated flight testsApr 2023
Starship and left the pad as one vehicle, the every , lander, and Mars ship will fly.
Done
Done
Booster catchOct 2024
Mechanical recovery of Super Heavy is the reuse path a tanker fleet needs to fill a departing ship.
Done
Done
Intact ship recoveryJul 2026
floated after , the first upper stage that can be inspected rather than written off.
Done
Done
In-orbit refuelingNext
Propellant transfer between Starships is the gate that turns a vehicle into a Moon and Mars vehicle.
Up next
Up next
Uncrewed lunar landingTo come
A cargo or uncrewed HLS Starship lands on the Moon, NASA's required demonstration before crew.
Later
Later
Artemis HLS crew landingTo come
Crew transfer from into a commercial lander for a south-pole stay, NASA’s current target is in 2028. Provider is not locked.
Later
Later
Mars transfer windowTo come
Uncrewed cargo toward Mars during a transfer window, using the tanker architecture HLS is paying to prove.
Later
Later

Our estimate

How close are the destinations?

This is not a NASA or SpaceX launch probability. It tracks public destination gates, tanker architecture, propellant transfer, the HLS lander variant, and the uncrewed landing NASA requires before crew, rather than the next test flight from Starbase.

These are our own rough estimates from public evidence, not an official number and not a launch probability.

Tanker architecture
25%
Design public, not flown
Lunar and Mars missions need a of tanker Starships in . is the first published attempt, and it has not flown. A tanker flight and a propellant-transfer demo have not flown.
In-orbit refueling
10%
Not demonstrated
Ship-to-ship transfer is the gate that turns a LEO-class vehicle into a Moon and Mars vehicle. SpaceX has not published a completed on-orbit transfer.
HLS lander variant
35%
In development
The drops Earth-return in favor of landing legs, elevators, and surface systems. NASA reports vendor progress; no integrated lander has been in public.
Uncrewed landing demo
5%
Not scheduled in public
NASA requires an uncrewed Starship HLS landing on the Moon before crew. No official demonstration window has been published.
Artemis IV crew landing
15%
Tied to NASA + dual HLS
NASA’s current target for the first crewed landing is early 2028 on . Which provider flies it, Starship HLS or Blue Moon, depends on who is ready. Artemis III is an Earth-orbit docking demo, not a landing.
Mars cargo path
10%
Architecture only
Uncrewed cargo during a transfer window is the stated first Mars step. No public cargo-ship assignment or window commitment exists yet.

Where this comes from

Sources

The official records and reporting this page is built from. Readiness figures are our own estimates from public signals, not an official NASA or SpaceX number.