# @pcmag on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DQrTEigjwa0
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/36590800-pcmag-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/e092e4a2d3.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-11-05T13:30:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** PCMag (@pcmag) — https://gondola.cc/pcmag

## Caption

Instead of continuing to insist that everything is well with its HLS (its Human Landing System) project - which is based on the upper stage of SpaceX’s giant, still-under-development Starship rocket – SpaceX says it is now working on a “simplified” version of that lander.

“In response to the latest calls, we’ve shared and are formally assessing a simplified mission architecture and concept of operations that we believe will result in a faster return to the Moon while simultaneously improving crew safety.” SpaceX provided no further details.

This statement came in an unusually detailed – almost 2,000 word – update from SpaceX, which recaps progress on Starship and a sometime-in-2026 test of the orbital refueling necessary for the HLS concept to work.

NASA knew of SpaceX’s HLS complexity when it awarded the company a $2.89 billion contract in 2021 (since revised to $4 billion, with $2.7 billion paid so far) to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and then back.

However, SpaceX’s lagging pace led Duffy to announce on Oct. 20 that NASA was re-opening the contract to build a lander for Artemis III.

SpaceX’s post still calls Starship “the fastest path to returning humans to the surface of the Moon and a core enabler of the Artemis program’s goal to establish a permanent, sustainable presence on the lunar surface.”

#HumanLandingSystem #StarshipHLS #ArtemisProgram #OrbitalRefueling #MissionArchitecture

📸: SpaceX

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## Tags

missionarchitecture, humanlandingsystem, artemisprogram, orbitalrefueling, starshiphls

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