Human Landing System Program - United States

University students and advisors from 11 finalist teams gathered in Huntsville, home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, June 23-25 for the agency’s third annual Human Lander Challenge. This year’s competition challenged students to consider solutions for environmental control and life support systems for long duration spaceflight. These technologies are essential for maintaining breathable air, potable water, and thermal stability for astronauts during deep space missions.

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NASA Announces Winners for 2026 Human Lander Challenge

June 27, 2026

NASA has announced the top student-developed solutions for environmental control and life support systems in future crewed lunar…

LUCA (Lunar Utilization Control Area) at NASA Marshall is specially designed to support a wide variety of science operations on and around the Moon – and beyond. Engineers in the LUCA monitored operations for the Lunar Node-1 experiment, an autonomous navigation payload that was part of the first NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) launch on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander in 2024. NASA Marshall flight controllers will use the LUCA again for Artemis II to monitor science operations.

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Twin NASA Control Rooms Support Artemis Safety, Success

April 9, 2026

Twin control rooms at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are actively supporting real-time mission operations…

NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick (left) and Mark Vande Hei (right) prepare to fly out to a landing zone in the Rocky Mountains as part of the certification run for the NASA Artemis course at the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site in Gypsum, Colorado, Aug. 26.

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NASA Uses Colorado Mountains for Simulated Artemis Moon Landing Course

September 11, 2025

NASA has certified a new lander flight training course using helicopters, marking a key milestone in crew training…