SpaceX and NASA Lunar HLS - Uncrewed Demo 1 Flight

This is an animation of what it may look like when SpaceX and NASA test the planned Human Landing System for the Artemis program.
From Starbase to the moon's surface, I try to show all the major milestones needed to make this a reality.
I hope for this to be entertaining and somewhat educational. This is highly speculative and will have many inaccuracies, missing or incorrect hardware, and milestones that are wrong or missed. The development of SpaceX's Starship has been at such a fast pace I could never keep up with the changes. I welcome all of your feedback and comments!
Thanks to SpaceX and NASA for dreaming big! I can not wait to see this happen soon!
Thanks to Samuel Krug for making and letting me use your beautiful Earth orbit HDRIs.
Check him out at,
/ @samk9632
Thanks to all the Artists of Spaceflight that have helped me on this project.
Thanks to the KZbinrs that have helped bring excitement, passion, and knowledge to all of us on #TeamSpace.
Felix Schlang - / whataboutit
And
Marcus House - / marcushouse
Thank you so much for your support and encouragement!
And thanks to all of you for watching my animations!

[@InfiniteSpaceMedia]

One of the best animations we've seen thus far, Bravo!

[@NickHenning3D]

Wow! Thanks so much!

[@KrustyKlown]

He left out the multiple week refurbishment of booster and starship in the high bay, between launches. Be serious, Falcon 9 was supposed to be relaunch ready in 24 hours.. and is averaging over 50 days now.

[@dixon_est]

@@KrustyKlown You sure, that the 50 days is not about cargo integration?

[@KrustyKlown]

@@dixon_est The FASTEST refurb turn around EVER for Falcon 9 has been 27 days. The first stage booster is independent of the cargo carried in the 2nd stage. That said.. 27 days is about 1/2 the best refurb to launch time of the Space Shuttle. For SpaceX to relaunch 2 or 3 times in a single day, would mean NO REFURB work at all.. just a systems check, stacking a Starship / Booster, fueling and launching. It is preposterous that NO Refurb work will be required.. space launches are extreme events of stress, vibration and heat cycling .. which make airline flight seem like a picnic. But have no worries.. if SpaceX can refurb and relaunch inside 1-2 weeks, they should be able to hit their launch frequency & cost requirements for Starlink lanches .. which is the main business purpose of Starship/Superheavy.

[@ingentingbra]

@@KrustyKlown Falcon 9 is using rocket-grade kerosene, Starship will use much cleaner burning methalox so that will cut down time significantly

[@MizaT11]

HA! I LOVE the wheel of cheese at the end XD Astounding work on this! Man, SpaceX really should just borrow animations from the community to demonstrate their missions. You showed it perfectly. It all feels so real and attainable too, with all the hardware we've seen. The tower, the catch arms, the QD's, the flip maneuver... We've seen them function. Now we just need the vehicles to perform as expected. What a time to be alive.

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks so much! Had to add the chesse!

[@ErikGoff]

@@NickHenning3D Loved the cheese ! Technically though there already is cheese on the moon. The Beresheet mission that crashed a few years go had cheese on board :)

[@walidhmd]

no wonder space x gonna do something like this XD

[@skateboardingjesus4006]

Except for their lunar lander. It's unfeasibly tall, with way too much mass above It's centre of gravity. The Apollo descent modules were squat, with a broad base, yet they even had concerns.

[@johndododoe1411]

@@skateboardingjesus4006 That's because the SpaceX HLS is a modified Starship. The Starship is designed to return humans from Mars, thus is optimized to launch through the Martian atmosphere. Now the flaps for atmospheric landing have been removed and lunar thrusters added above the center of gravity (seen in other animations).

[@StanleyCreative]

Stunning animation Nick, you can tell so much effort went into this. All the effects, all the different scenes, with so much attention to detail. Awesome 🚀🤘

[@NickHenning3D]

😁 thanks so much Caspar

[@borshik2054]

В видео вложено много сил и сыра

[@yummysatay]

@3:44 and @5:52 indicate four refueling processes. The tanker looks to be same size as the lunar starship which itself has 1200t propellant capacity. A tanker surely must have more fuel capacity since it will have larger tank in place of cargo payload. What is the tanker refueling that needs to be repeated four times? In other words, say you have an 80 gallon SUV which is not empty, then you have say 120 gallon tanker trying to refuel your SUV and then again and again and again. How do you jam 120x4=480 gallon of fuel into your 80 gallon SUV?

[@Mister_Durden]

@@yummysatay tanker burns to get into orbit and to get back to ground? So its not transferring 100%? I have no idea what im talking about just a guess.

[@yummysatay]

@@Mister_Durden You are right about the fuel in the tanker. I now understood the process. Booster has a max launch weight of the starship: payload of 150T + its dry weight (no fuel). So the first launch is starship with payload but with empty fuel tank. Subsequent launches of the tanker with fuel of only 150T. Starship (in orbit) fuel capacity is 1200T. (1200 / 150) = 8. So my guess is it needs to launch tanker eight times to fill up the starship in orbit.

[@Nova-dp5ym]

I seriously can’t imagine that I might see this in real life:)

[@NickHenning3D]

I know right!! Can't wait.

[@willdmann363]

@BlackholeTtson452 The first Artimas Moon landing I think is scheduled sometime 2026 or 2028 but those dates will probably change a little.

[@paranaenselol]

@@BadTakesGuy bruh artemis one already happened in 2022

[@crispyboi5341]

Really amazing animation, seriously. The high quality of rendering and accuracy of the launch site and launch vehicles were incredible! Ever thought about working for Spacex's graphic design team? It was so cool seeing the whole process from the launch of the lunar starship to the in orbit refueling. Not to mention the QD arm for the starship and booster, its clear that you've been following the program closely and its cool to see. Can't wait to see that orbital launch in real life!

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks so much for this great comment. I lt is definitely a project of love for me!

[@ryeb_]

No words can describe what a masterpiece you have created. Well done!

[@pawlance]

Beautiful work, all of it. Laughed out loud when the test payload was released on the lunar surface. Congratulations to you and the whole team.

[@larrybuzbee7344]

Very very nice, quite cinematic with the funny cheese payoff. A particularly tasty touch was the very slight greenish tone applied as if with an airbrush to the lunar surface as the ship approached landing. Also, the engine sound is a necessary bit of stage magic that speaks of the power involved despite the fact that there would be none from the camera POV after atmospheric departure. It's a well taken liberty. The landing dust cloud was a standout as well. I'm jealous of the tools available to animators today. Why, back in my day, whippersnsppers, grumble, grumble ..... never mind, it's nap time. Thanks.

[@kevinfidler6287]

Thank you for that. This is an excellent way to show my family what SpaceX is planning on accomplishing.

[@NickHenning3D]

Aw that's so cool to hear!

[@jonharper82]

Incredible and detailed animation. It was like looking into the future, the not so distant future! I am a new big fan! I’m sure many others will be as well. Many kudos.

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks so much!

[@okexox3772]

This is exactly what makes me so much more excited about HLS compared to SLS SLS just feels like we're doing the same thing as Saturn, with modern improvements. HLS/Starship is gonna be crazy to see.

[@NickHenning3D]

Can't wait to see! Fun future ahead!

[@jorge9312]

Para mi el modulo lunar de Blue Origin es mas sencillo de desarrollar que este gigantesco mecano que debe funcionar bien todos los pasos y son muchos, la posibilidad de fallo aumenta con tantos vuelos y maniobras. Espero que la nasa no se haya equivocado porque será mas barato pero es mas complicado que los otros módulos lunares. El SLS es un gran cohete y Orión también.

[@Randhawatrader9]

Just starship beat if successful man rating achieve 🍫🌹

[@shawnschaitel838]

Starship is largely using obsolete tech with a new spin under the guise of reducing cost via reusability when if fact while it may do that it's still has the same issues as all of the old designs and that is rockets are really not that effecient perse as most of the rocket is fuel and thus the biggest cost if they really wanted to make something truly innovative they need to design a system /engine that doesn't need to be such a fuel hog to go into space

[@shawnschaitel838]

​@@BadTakesGuy keep drinking that koolaid its never going to be that cheap as to get there it will need to take thousands of starship launches to do that the thing can only get at max 150 tons into low earth orbit a hundred to geo synch orbit hence all the refueling BS to get it to even be able to go to the moon or anywhere else thus not making it anymore fuel efficient in many ways than a Saturn v in fact it most likely worse even elon musk has admitted starship will make or break the company because there axing falcon entirely and thus while his goal is humans on mars without massive government support for such an endeavor after he tries to prove via a couple missions that his concept are viable it eon't actually happen then

[@basbekjenl]

This gives me chills, I hope we can see starship flying soon, making all kinds of things possible.

[@planetsec9]

That is a really interesting refueling setup though according to the GAO documents SpaceX will refuel a propellant depot (possibly a stretched Starship I'd guess) with tankers and then once its topped up then have the HLS ship dock and refuel everything in one go, much less risky and more time flexible that way. Though the refuel setup you showed looks logical for how it would be done from tanker to depot and depot to HLS so that's really cool, the airbag buffer is a nice idea

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks! I was thinking this may be the fasted way to demonstrate the tech but I think big depots will be the way they go eventually.

[@josephvanwanzeele5125]

@@NickHenning3D I would agree with what was shown would be a very good way to repetitively demonstrate the re-fuel and maintain process while in space prior to moving forward with a depot. Great rendering of the process!

[@nigelwoods6979]

@@NickHenning3D YES!. Congrats to Nick for an awesome animation, including Starship QD as the transfer mechanism, so herein my 2 cents worth. As mentioned, there will be a depot Starship. As per your brilliant animation, it will have QD. Depot will be a stretched, no flaps, likely no Sea Level Raptor (it's NEVER coming back, except as a shower of sparks) Starship. The nosecone will be blunt, just aerodynamic enough for launch (Elon has mentioned Starship is 'pointier' than necessary, for aesthetics). Both Depot and Starship will face they same direction (why spend fuel mass to change orientation?? total waste). For staging, there are currently NO Cold Gas Thrusters on Booster. Elon has said Booster will be 'kicking' Starship loose by vectoring the Raptors . B4 and (likely) B7 will launch with no CGT, to test if the Grid Fin/Raptor combo is sufficient control authority for landing. If yes, there's no reason to go down that path, ever... As Elon says "Best part is NO part"

[@tarnvedra9952]

I think you meant to say: "SpaceX will refuel a [REDACTED] with tankers."

[@chrismantonuk]

@@NickHenning3D yeah I'd guess they'll eventually keep one big depot topped up in space, so that HLS (and Mars!) flights aren't waiting on other launch operations. How cool is that, an in-space refuelling depot!

[@liamrobins8789]

WOW just Wow! No other words needed

[@MrHichammohsen1]

Now this is what i call a class A professional eye candy video! TEAM SPACE ALL THE WAY! And the cheese at the end was hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@chamagical]

first I thought it was a piece of cake!

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks for the nice words! Team space!

[@johnanderson2550]

Love the QD fueling plate on the gas truck! Best part is no part

[@NickHenning3D]

Good eye! Thanks

[@kylehuntmaui]

I liked the refueling part!

[@ashtorak]

Nice! I like the ambition and it even has a funny note (to me at least) with that insane thrust-to-weight ratio at lift-off :D

[@NickHenning3D]

Yeah its a bit exaggerated, Thanks.

[@gordoncornwell]

Companies pay a fortune for such high quality animations, if they could get such quality anyway!

[@scottfarcus1667]

Can't believe I'm going to watch a video of this thing landing and then immediately tipping over on the news several years from now

[@markpetersen7084]

The disconnect closeup segments are amazing! I especially like the shot from the far end of the upper stage fueling disconnect @0:44. If you didn't know it was a 3D render, you'd swear it was a real camera shot. Truly impressive work Nick, et al!

[@atptourfan]

Thank you for this incredible effort, Nick!

[@NickHenning3D]

Thank you!

[@danswan1047]

What a remarkable piece of work. Truly remarkable, and inspiring. Thanks for the incredible effort to put this together for everyone to visualize our future.

[@nzolivan]

This the most accurate space launch animation I've ever seen ❤️ beautiful details and exciting

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks!!

[@StingerNSW]

I can watch this all day long, its a Masterclass in 3D Animation. Bravo, brilliant Nick. ❤

[@wonjonglee7854]

SpaceX should be hiring you for their visuals... so amazing. can't wait to see this happen for real

[@kurtgron]

I'm simply speechless by the quality of this animation! What an exciting time to be alive!

[@digi3218]

He said "and you for watching". I think I teared up 🥲

[@joacogonzalez1430]

Im speechless by this incredible piece of art

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks so much!!

[@robossbomb0000]

Amazing I can’t imagine how long this took to create

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks! Just a few month.....and that with 3 computer rendering almost 24/7

[@Muuip]

Computer animated visualization of ideals. Amazing, inspiring and promotes creativity towards realization. Thank you! Much appreciated!👍👍👍 👏👏👏

[@raedgaj3878]

Like taking coal to Newcastle, bringing cheese to the Moon, a nice touch :) This is very well made, I saw your link on Markus' site, keep up this great work, it's really enjoyable to watch these simulations, & showing us how all the hard work of the SpaceX program will operate, the future is in space & there's the potential for a lot of new industry up there, well done everyone involved.

[@TheOrrvillian]

Great job!! This looks amazing, and is very informative for everyone. Please keep up the great art.

[@Kage1128]

This is absolutely breathtaking awesome work

[@tonys2957]

This is crazy well done. Perhaps 80% of what SpaceX has planned ... At least what they've shown to date. Well done. Ending was a stroke of genius.

[@ph11p3540]

Love the squeaky rollers when Mechzilla Chopsticks lifts up and down the tower. The final test load for the exterior elevator with the Swiss cheese wheel had me laughing. Glad you injected some humor into this

[@Spaceflightinc]

Greatest animation yet. Cant wait for more animations like these. As always keep up the outstanding work! #TeamSpace

[@ibluap]

Awsaome! Inspiring! Great! Guess NASA and Artemis deserve you as their official animator! Just some little improvements. Any spectator in the vacuum of space won't listen anything from the rockets when they burn... sound are gas pressure waves and where there is no gas, there is no sound... Second, Deorbiting begins at around 28,000 Km/h and reentry ends, i certainly don't know, but very probably at supersonic speeds. So, I'd add more velocity "feel" to the scene of reentry of refuelling Starship. Ionized plasma seems to swirl as if the artificial meteorite that would be Starship was entering at merely 200 - 300 Km/h. And third, one of things that became quite clear on Apollo missions was that under the efflux of hot gases from LM descending stage, a lot of dust and particles raised upon the surface and were expelled a high speed away by those same gases. It is to be expected something similar may occur with Artemis missions; but remember, Lunar Starship uses the ring of thrusters right under the crew station to land, and not its rear mounted Raptors just to avoid dust removal in great amounts and eventual risk to receive damage from some foreign object from the ground. Gas efflux in the lunar almost-void, from the height of that thrusters ring, won't have a serious impact on surface regolith or small stones. So the cloud of expected dust when Lunar Starship lands would have to be largely smaller than depicted in the landing scene. Moreover, not existing any peceivable atmosphere on the Moon, any dust cannot remain in suspension because nothing can suspend anything there. You can form a great cloud of dust by kicking on the lunar dust, but that cloud is surprisingly short-lived compared with a similar situation on Mother Earth. It will disappear in a couple of seconds as if nothing had happened. If you want to have an idea of dust clouds behavior on the Moon, watch this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6ucn3moo6h-bJI .

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks for all the great notes and nice words! I'll keep this in mind going forward.

[@ibluap]

@@NickHenning3D However, the quality of sounds is fan-tas-tic. Can't figure out how could you synthetise them! Their mere quality justifies their presence in the airless void! For future works, don't forget that even though sound is not transmitted by the emptiness of space, it actually is by solid structures, and all those sounds will eventually be on their way to any pressurized compartment throughout the solid structures. In spacecraft missions, astronauts and cosmonauts heard almost anything going on in their ships via transmission through solid structures. It is superbly dramatized on the movie Apollo 13 wnen CSM docks LEM. It is clearly heard when the CSM probe grazes on the LEM drogue until it catches the primary hooks and then the series of locks ac tivated after the probe retraction.

[@TheAefril]

Excellent work by the Animator here. Just inspiring, as it is so attainable with today's technology. Each element shown can be achieved by what has almost already been demonstrated by companies such as SpaceX. **The Future is bright! **

[@Sonderax]

OMG the on orbit refuelling idea is amazing with the inflatables

[@garbon1450]

looks dope

[@zbigniewstadnik4517]

Superb 😁😁😁

[@robinfrenzy]

Very well done, congratulations! My favorite part was the booster landing. The takeoffs are a bit too fast, and the boosters will probably hover for a longer time for the chopsticks to catch the booster/startship safely but it was awesome to watch, thank you!

[@melwek9779]

Astonishing. Most beautiful and realistic animation right now. Thx!

[@freeze1280]

Absolutely incredible work, all the details are just amazing!

[@wopsashtadi713]

Nice animation🤩

[@alstud1]

Incredible work you've accomplished. This is hands down my favorite SpaceX simulation. /Applaud

[@ztechrepairs]

That cheese bro got me! Excellent video!

[@metalfaceplates]

THIS. IS. ABSOLUTELY. AMAZING!!!!! Please tell me how I can donate to you. You literally just put a smile on my face for the entire 10 minutes. Seriously, this is FANTASTIC! Thank you so much for putting the time into this. So how do we donate?

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks so much! I appreciate it but nowhere to donate.

[@jeffk1482]

@@NickHenning3D A true labor of love! IMO you deserve to go on one of these first missions. Then render it for us to tell your story of the amazing trip. Wishful thinking probably, but still...

[@_K3PLR]

Im very interested in the refuelling system presented in this video, can we have some more details on this?

[@NickHenning3D]

It's not official, just the most logical I could come with. I may do more on it, thanks!

[@josiahclinch6219]

THANK YOU! you are one of few that gets this right. 1st HLS Demo1 then Demo-2/Art-3.

[@56degrees]

Stunning. Thanks so much.

[@TheSpaceEngineer]

wheel of cheese nice lol

[@marti9]

Its crazy there still even attempting half this shit

[@NickHenning3D]

I know huh? Can't wait.

[@peterneilwoodhead4064]

The effort and the work put into this realistic animation is absolutely awesome.👍🚀👍

[@jordyvanewijk6727]

What a great demonstration, makes it really clearly what the idea will be. Thanx for the effort 👌 good addition on Felix's and marcus' work

[@jacksonkelly1130]

🧀 CHEESE 🧀

[@Tcuel]

Haha 9:46 (No spoilers)

[@DLCaster]

Spectacular renderings and animation. I hope when it comes time, the actual mission goes this smoothly.

[@mikker29y]

Well done!

[@RV4aviator]

Amazing CGI skills..! And to think we will all see this as a reality soon..! Mind blown .....

[@chuckholverson4768]

Stunning!

[@smacksman1]

Brilliant. Especially loved the fenders on the tanker ship.

[@oddvarsand5568]

That was very, very…beautiful, inspiring! Thank you for making this!

[@mauribarberomerlini5168]

Wonderful! He gave me goosebumps. I congratulate the entire team of animators and sponsors

[@BlackWolf42-]

Magnificent job. This is my new favorite Starship launch/recovery video to date. Hats off to the entire crew that made this happen.

[@philkipnis7403]

Incredible, mind-blowing, words aren't sufficient enough to describe the feelings that this evokes.. kudos to the artist, to the illustrators, and most of all to the imagineers the thought of this.

[@AnExPor]

That was really fun to watch. Interesting to see what the future holds. Your video production is really good. Keep it up!

[@AnExPor]

LOL, I commented just a few moments before the end of the video. Love the cheese wheel!

[@KeepItReal2024]

Amazing animation!

[@steveczerwinski7523]

Gorgeous animation Nick! And the sound effects were insane. Squeaky wheels when chopstix moved up and down cracked me up! Kudos!

[@averagejoe8255]

A true master of your craft. God bless.

[@hoodlum182]

Another epic animation. Thank you so much, love it. Especially the orbital refueling, great idea.

[@happycamperinc.]

Ever heard a word speechless . That's my situation now. Amazing work .

[@HonestJunkie]

Honestly this is one of the BEST animations of spaceX starship I have seen. I love everything about, including the ‘squeaky’ sound effects, motor noises and especially your sense of humour …… that cheese wheel at the end is gold. Why only 8000 subs I have no idea ….. you deserve far FAR more, well you have 8001 now. Thank you for all your effort and I look forward to seeing the channel grow. Cheers from Gold Coast Australia

[@lynnashley6247]

WOW!!! Made me cry. Thanks for your excellent work!

[@oddvarsand5568]

That was…very, very beautiful…inspiring. Thank you for making this!

[@theartofgregcrimmins]

Wow. This gave me tears of joy... Impeccable work.

[@jonasmanuel]

This is just amazing work!!

[@nisenobody8273]

Amazing

[@cameranoalain2327]

Realy AMAZING job ! Very well done ! Thank you for the great work.

[@raito2jionx]

It's really stunning animation!!! I'm looking forward to chapter the Mars!

[@UnHolySaint8]

This is dreams in an animation. Let’s hope SpaceX and NASA can pull this off. Great work sir. Made me excited again about our future

[@MariusForster]

The space comunerty is lucky to have people like you Thank you🙏

[@AcapulKero]

Excellent work brother! This should be transmitted on TV, so everybody could see it!

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks that would be cool!

[@alexeytinkov5468]

Amazing work!!!

[@nuvostef]

Excellent production! Thank you. 🤙🏼

[@swissyodelbear]

Gobsmacked, speechless, awesomeness, great work, ......thank you!

[@mimmipiggast2243]

An absolutely stunning presentation!!! Can't wait to see it IRL.

[@IsMaski]

Spectacular work. Man the catching of the booster and ship was clean. In real life, this is gonna be nerve wrecking to watch. You have raised the bar Nick. Keep grinding man

[@NickHenning3D]

With the amount of work that have gone into the catch arms I will so nervous! Going to be spectacular no matter what!

[@cuonu2b]

Amazing realistic animations…..I need more!

[@NeathenAlero]

_ABSOLUTE PERFECTION. I LOVED THIS._ ♥️✨🥰

[@oof_Dad]

The Raptor audio was so spot on. It has the snap to it like the real thing 👌

[@BruceThomson]

SUPERB. Thank you Nick, for giving us this splendid experience, using your and your friends' fabulous graphics abilities. Stunning, thrilling, beautiful, including the music.

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks for your kind words! I glad you enjoyed it!

[@thatgamer4354]

Perfect animation

[@jonjoe42]

Outstanding work!

[@kitty_kitanna]

WOWOWOOWOWOWOWOWOW NICK!!!! IM TROUGHLY STUNNED!

[@NickHenning3D]

Thanks Kitanna!

[@bgdx.5049]

Words are powerless. I simply love it. Further developments may occur but, as far as we know, this is amazing.

[@irishmal1]

Very well done.

[@guyosburn8858]

Absolutely killer animation! Excellent work!

[@andrewremobs9854]

Came over from Marcus' channel. Love it! Especially the squeaky wheel effects.