SpaceX and NASA have shown how Starship will help astronauts land on the moon. Photo

The American space company SpaceX and NASA have published new illustrations and described how the Starship rocket can ferry Artemis astronauts to the lunar surface. Experts show a variety of maneuvers and steps that Elon Musk's reusable ship will have to perform as part of the current plan of the American agency.

As conceived by experts, Starship will dock in lunar orbit with NASA's Orion spacecraft, and astronauts will move from the capsule to the SpaceX vehicle. From there, Starship will deliver the astronauts to the lunar surface, Space.com reports.

One of the photos shows two Starships docking to transfer fuel from one to the other. Since HLS will be carrying heavy equipment destined for the Moon, it will consume a lot of fuel based on the Earth's gravity. During the journey to the Earth's satellite, it will need to be refueled, so SpaceX is developing an orbital fuel transfer technique, the developers explain.

As can be seen in the images, the updated version of the HLS Starship has a different configuration – it has windows and no fins, which are present in typical Starship versions.

The HLS in these new illustrations also has a smooth white finish, in contrast to the stainless steel finish dotted with black heat shielding tiles seen on other Starships, experts say.

One of the renders shows two astronauts wearing Axiom Space lunar suits descending to the lunar surface in an elevator.

Another illustration shows SpaceX's Starship HLS with two of its six Raptor engines on during braking before attempting to land on the moon.

As a reminder, NASA had originally planned the Artemis 3 mission for 2024 but postponed it until September 2026. The delays are due to hardware development issues, including problems with the Orion heat shield and the long development schedule SpaceX faced while preparing the Starship for orbital flight.

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