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SpaceX’s billion-dollar Starship Human Landing System (HLS) rocket for NASA’s Artemis program that will land the first humans on the Moon since the Apollo program will have at least two floors and be capable of carrying a crew of 20 astronauts shows new details about the X. Meanwhile SpaceX is busy testing Starship in full swing in Boca Chica, Texas, the company provided few details about the $2.9 billion contract NASA awarded in 2021 to build HLS.

Now, according to an educator who recently visited a SpaceX facility in Texas, the initial Starship HLS design includes two floors and enough space to accommodate 20 astronauts in a space with 40-foot ceilings.

SpaceX’s Starship HLS Prototype Has Two Decks With The Lower Deck Having A Curved Floor

Users and educators The Starship Because HLS is still in the early stages of design and SpaceX has not yet produced the ship, the company is working with NASA and astronauts to refine the design.

According to Blackmore, the prototype he visited had two floors. The first floor is above the ship’s tanks and has a curved floor. This floor houses life support equipment for crews located on upper floors, and the arch is large enough to be almost invisible, according to educators. In the center of the room is a four-foot-wide staircase that leads to the second floor of the Starship HLS prototype.

Viewers can see the floor”curves upwards on the underside of life support equipment,” adds Blackmore. This equipment includes a heat exchanger with tubes that “go to the AC unit outside.”

The prototype consists of two decks. One main deck, and the deck below houses life support equipment/ECLSS. The lower deck does not have a flat “floor” and is instead the surface of the dome itself, with life support equipment lining the walls on shelves. pic.twitter.com/zS9s3vJcnY

— TheSpaceEngineer (@mcrs987) November 2, 2024

As for the second floor, this is the deck where the astronauts live. Blackmore described it as “very large main room” with “a bunk bed on one side and a storage shelf with a foam-filled space pocket on the other.” The room also had a control chair for moving the ship during the moon landing and ascent. This is “laid out like a dragon (but only a gaming chair attached to the box) is located directly across from the door. 4 seats, with a touch screen displaying the Moon’s displacement, orbit and landing maneuvers on it.“

According to Blackmore, it takes 15 steps to reach the second floor. As for living quarters, the prototype he visited had five bedrooms similar to those found on the International Space Station, along with “the picture shows that you can fit 20 pieces in a ring around the ship.“Blackmore is convinced that”there will be no shortage of space with any crew size“on Starship HLS since it was in the prototype”made it clear that it was very stupid.”

The prototype had no windows, and Blackmore added that he saw a television screen with a simulated window mounted on one of the walls. He”not nearly finished or being filled,” and was a demonstration article for NASA.

SpaceX’s Starship HLS is scheduled to begin ship-to-ship propellant transfers in March, according to NASA’s deputy manager for the HLS program, Dr. Kent Chojnacki. In an interview given to Spaceflight Now ahead of Starship Flight 5, Dr. Chojnacki shared that ship-to-ship transfers “is a large building block” which opens up the ability to send much larger amounts of cargo into Earth orbit. NASA also wants SpaceX to launch Starship first once every two weeks from Texas and then at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with the possibility of one launch per week.

Establishing this cadence will be key to SpaceX’s lunar landings because it will allow it to fill propellant tankers in Earth orbit and measure the launch frequency necessary to keep those tankers at optimal fuel levels.

Inside the HLS prototype there are 5 bedrooms (ISS style, but horizontal), and pictures show that you could fit 20 bedrooms in a ring around the ship.
Being inside makes it VERY clear that it is huge, and there will be no shortage of space for any size crew.
They only have 2 floors…

— Tom Bickmore (@The2x4) November 1, 2024