A Lunar Orbit That’s Just Right for Humanity’s First Space Station Around the Moon

As NASA prepares for humanity’s long-term return to the lunar surface through the Artemis missions, the agency is introducing novel concepts – backed up by science and decades of experience in human spaceflight – to blaze new trails on and around the Moon.

An international collaboration, Gateway is a human-tended, small station that will orbit the Moon. The lunar outpost is specially designed to enable deep space exploration with many capabilities for maintaining a sustained presence in space and conducting research in a deep space environment. Features like a human habitat, multiple docking ports for a variety of spacecraft, including Orion, and the ability to host experiments that will study space weather will all help contribute to future exploration efforts. Similarly, Gateway’s unique near-rectilinear halo orbit, or NRHO, was specifically chosen to help ensure the success of future Artemis missions.