The Artemis IV mission is taking shape with major hardware for Gateway, humanity’s first space station to orbit the Moon, progressing in Turin, Italy.
NASA will launch HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost), center of image in background, along with the Power and Propulsion Element (not pictured) to lunar orbit ahead of the Artemis IV mission as the first elements of Gateway, the first space station to be assembled around the Moon. During that mission, astronauts will launch in the Orion spacecraft with the Lunar I-Hab, pieces of which are shown here in the foreground, and deliver it to Gateway. Lunar I-Hab is provided by ESA (European Space Agency) with significant hardware contributions from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), and is one of four Gateway modules that astronauts will live and work inside as they orbit the Moon.
Thales Alenia Space completed major welding on HALO and began initial fabrication of Lunar I-Hab last year. The company is a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman for HALO, and prime contractor to ESA for Lunar I-Hab.
Along with HALO, I-Hab, and the Power and Propulsion Element, two additional Gateway modules provided by ESA and the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Center make up the core components of the space station. CSA (Canadian Space Agency) is providing the Canadarm3 advanced external robotic system and fixtures for science instruments.
The international teams of astronauts living, conducting science, and preparing for missions to the lunar South Pole region from Gateway will be the first humans to make their home in deep space.
