The Moon Base is humanity’s first lunar outpost, a place where astronauts will live, work, and explore near the Moon’s South Pole. Through a series of crewed and uncrewed missions, NASA and its partners will build the infrastructure needed to support an enduring human presence on the Moon, unlock new scientific discoveries, and prepare for future exploration of Mars.
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Moon Base Assembly in Progress
NASA is building a Moon Base near the lunar South Pole to strengthen American leadership in space, unlock scientific discovery, drive innovation with industry and international collaborators, and prepare humanity for missions to Mars.
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A Step-by-Step Approach
Blueprint for a Lasting Lunar Presence
Steady Progress Toward an Enduring Future on the Moon
The Moon Base will be built in stages. NASA will begin with robotic missions that test new technologies and explore the lunar environment, then gradually build the systems and infrastructure needed to establish humanity’s first long-term presence on the Moon.
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NASA Awards More Moon Base Science, Previews New Opportunities
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the selection of three companies to land four new missions on the Moon in late 2028 as part of the agency’s Moon Base Program. Astrobotic, Firefly Aerospace, and Intuitive Machines will deliver NASA science payloads to the lunar surface as the agency builds the first outpost on another celestial world.
Read the Release about NASA Awards More Moon Base Science, Previews New Opportunities
Constructing the future Through collaboration
Help Build the Moon Base
The Moon Base represents one of the most ambitious engineering and exploration efforts in human history — and it cannot be achieved alone. NASA is partnering with commercial industry, academia, and innovators around the world to develop the technologies, infrastructure, and capabilities needed to establish an enduring human presence on the Moon. The future of lunar exploration will be built through collaboration, and NASA invites the global community to help shape what comes next.
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The Challenge of the Lunar South Pole
The Moon Base will be built in one of the most extreme environments humans have ever explored.
NASA chose the lunar South Pole because it offers unparalleled opportunities for scientific discovery and long-term exploration. But the region’s extreme temperatures, rugged landscape, and permanently shadowed craters will require new technologies and innovative solutions to overcome. Explore why NASA is taking on these obstacles—and how they will shape the future of lunar exploration.
This visualization flies toward and around the Moon’s South Pole as the surface transitions from natural color to coded elevation colors that highlight the region’s terrain and topography. Thirty features near the lunar South Pole are identified throughout the animation. Data gathered by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter informed the visualization.
NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
CLPS Moon Missions, Mapped
Explore an interactive map of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) landing sites to see where commercial landers have touched down and where future missions are headed. From science investigations to technology demonstrations, discover how commercial deliveries are expanding exploration across the lunar surface and helping pave the way for Moon Base development.
Explore about CLPS Moon Missions, Mapped
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Living and Working at the Lunar South Pole
The lunar South Pole region presents an environment unlike any previously explored by humans. This interactive experience demonstrates how the areas targeted for Artemis missions and future Moon Base development differ from the locations explored during Apollo.
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Exploring Earth’s Nearest Neighbor
Lunar exploration advances science and serves as a proving ground for future missions to Mars.
The Moon is the gateway to the solar system. A world equivalent to an entire continent that human feet have touched only a few times. As Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor, the Moon has profound potential to be a source of new scientific advances. It is also the best place for us to test our deep space systems and operations in preparation for the first human mission to another planet: Mars.
Captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, this image shows the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun.
NASA
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