Artemis rockets (SLS & Starship) that will get us to the Moon - infographic by Tony Bela

Australian space illustrator Tony Bela has created an infographic of Artemis rockets – NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), boosting Orion crew capsule to lunar orbit, and SpaceX's Human Landing System (known as Lunar Starship) – that will get the humanity back to the surface of the Moon.

You can download the infographic in its original resolution here.

SpaceX Lunar Starship delivering cargo for Artemis Base Camp

SpaceX's Lunar Starship, selected to return humans to the Moon, delivering cargo and crew for NASA's Artemis Base Camp on the Moon's South Pole. Concept artwork created by US 3D artist Nick Henning.

NASA selects SpaceX Lunar Starship to return humans to the Moon

Today NASA announced it has selected SpaceX "to continue development of the first commercial human lander that will safely carry the next two American astronauts to the lunar surface" as part of the Artemis program. A year ago it was announced three contenders were selected to compete for this mission - SpaceX, Blue Origin's led "National Team" and Dynetics - and SpaceX revealed it is working for a lunar optimized Starship. Now we know SpaceX's proposal has won the race. In a milestone-based fixed-price contract SpaceX will be able to receive $2.89 billion to develop the Lunar Starship. The year when SpaceX needs to land humans back to the Moon is not specified yet.

In addition to today's announcement, NASA shared latest official render of SpaceX's Lunar Starship which slightly differs from last year's version:

Short film: honeymoon trip to the Moon with SpaceX Starship

Two brothers from DeepSpaceCourier have created an animated short film of a newly married couple taking their honeymoon trip to the Moon with SpaceX's Starship. The short film starts with the couple boarding Starship Super Heavy at ocean launch platform; Starship is launched to the Moon and after a few days voyage docks to Lunar Gateway; there the couple switches to a Lunar Starship and lands on the surface of the Moon.

Some images from the short film in chronological order:

Cutaway diagram of SpaceX Lunar Starship

Unofficial cutaway diagram of SpaceX's Lunar Starship interior by Rocket Posters. The Lunar Starship is lunar optimized version (for NASA's Artemis program) of the fully reusable super heavy-lift spacecraft - Starship - currently developed by leading NewSpace company SpaceX.

NASA selects SpaceX's lunar optimized Starship for Artemis program

Today NASA announced that three US companies - SpaceX, Blue Origin & Dynetics - will develop the human landers that will land astronauts on the Moon beginning in 2024 as part of the Artemis program. And SpaceX shared some renders of the "lunar optimized Starship" which is developed "to transport crew between lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon". SpaceX added that "a lunar optimized Starship can fly many times between the surface of the Moon and lunar orbit without flaps or heat shielding required for Earth return. With large habitable and storage volume, Starship is capable of delivering significant amounts of cargo for research and to support robust operations on the lunar surface to enable a sustainable Moon base."