SpaceX HLS Starship Moon Landing Animation

A cinematic animation about the first crewed landing of SpaceX lunar Starship on the moon. The video was inspired by the landing scene from the movie "First Man".
All the scenes were modeled and rendered in Blender.
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▶︎Credits:
-Orion spacecraft 3d model by Mark Piatowski grabcad.com/library/orion-spa...
-Spacex pressure suit by Gil P. de Paulo grabcad.com/library/spacex-as...
-EVA spacesuit and alien toy are from Microsoft 3d library.
-Starship, the Moon and everything else was modeled by me.
-Songs used:
Justin Hurwitz - X-15
Justin Hurwitz - The Landing
Justin Hurwitz - Moon
▶︎Key events of the movie:
0:00 Intro
0:06 Animation start
0:28 Starship undocking from Orion
1:41 Deorbit burn start
3:48 Landing engines startup
4:03 Legs deploy and landing
4:31 Astronauts descending to moon surface
5:06 Mindblowing scale comparison

[@racingmhf9157]

This + First Man Soundtrack = Perfection

[@SillyBillih]

The camera man goes crazy 💯🔥🔥🔥

[@TheDutchmanGaming]

Excellent production quality, absolutely excellent!

[@velin3d]

Thank you!!!

[@Stephen-wb3wf]

Really good animation good work. Also I really like the close ups on the astronauts a human element is usually missing from these starship renders.

[@velin3d]

Thank you! I wanted to have some interaction between the astronauts but my animation skills are not that good lol

[@peterkacandes5905]

The deorbit burn would be much shorter not continuous and like wise the landing burn. Good job showing the switch to the smaller upper rockets for actual landing.

[@velin3d]

Thanks for the feedback! You are right the deorbit burn is way too long and the landing engines will probably ignite closer to the ground. I will try to make the timing more realistic in future videos.

[@joyl7842]

I love how you used the music from the Apollo 11 LEM approach scene in "First Man"

[@Astro_Neel]

Yeah, hope he doesn't get any copyright issue with that.

[@anodominate]

This guy need our support,what he made is not a work of rookies...He is legend..absolutely Phenomenal bro. Keep it up.

[@velin3d]

Wow thank you so much man! Really appreciate your support!!

[@pforce9]

Thank you for that! Not only are we going back to the moon but we are going back to the moon in style.

[@ApacheFPV]

Loved the alien zero g indicator

[@laszlomartossy4749]

WOW!🧑‍🚀🌔😍

[@stuartyoung4182]

HOW have I not seen THIS before TODAY!!! I looked up Velin 3D for the first time after seeing imagery from this video elsewhere. Of all the HLS imagery I've seen, THIS made me the most emotional! AWESOME use of music from the film "First Man"; I laughed at the "zero-G indicator", and marveled at the realism of having it descend to the floor under the deceleration forces. Truly dramatic showing the HLS soar over Shackleton Crater; AWESOME depiction of the instrument panels, thrusters, leg deploy, etc. One minor nit: I believe that only 2 crew are currently planned for the Artemis III mission, the first mission slated to return Humanity to the Moon. Of course, with all the turmoil in the world right now - including the apparent doubling in price of SLS launches, under-funding of NASA, delays in spacesuit production (which SpaceX may be able to rectify, as revealed in recent news), etc., the first landing is not likely to occur until 2025 or 2026 at the earliest - and in U.S. Presidential Administration tradition of the last 5 decades, is subject to cancellation at any time. But IF and WHEN it happens in real life: I know that I will be sobbing like a baby - and praying that NO future generations will EVER go without Human presence on the Moon AGAIN! THANK YOU FOR THE PREVIEW!!!

[@velin3d]

Wow!! Thank you so much for this amazing comment! You made my day! I'm happy that you liked it! And thanks for the info about the mission. I didn't really research much before doing the video. My intention was to make an insipirng and emotional movie and I'm really glad that it made you feel that way!

[@rustyshackleford234]

Thankfully both sides actually seem to want to continue the Artemis program thank god.

[@ajcsanders]

Mind Blown! Well done. That was incredible.

[@velin3d]

Thank you glad you like it!

[@jack_brooks]

You are going to want to deploy your landing gear earlier in the sequence to make sure they are fully locked out. That way you can abandoned the landing attempt if a problem is found.

[@dsdy1205]

I love seeing Starship undock "from" Orion

[@stefanstahl617]

Incredible!!!

[@Hidayet.Guzeller]

This is a Masterpiece, Excellent synchronisation with the First man Music, probably no better music to add to this!

[@velin3d]

Thank you so much!! Really appreciate it!

[@philrabe910]

Very Very nice! 2:32 is when I particularly sat up and said, Oh Yeah!

[@velin3d]

Yeah that's my favourite part too!

[@CineConCris]

Spectacular animation! Keep going! 👨‍🚀

[@velin3d]

Thank you Cris! Didn't expect to see you here lol 😉😆

[@CineConCris]

@@velin3d I'm everywhere 🤣🤣🤣

[@diamondjazz2000]

It is exciting to think that one day this won’t be dramatic (like parking a car)!

[@nkronert]

Search the internet for "parking a car" and be amazed how hard that can be 😊

[@Carlos_Lennon]

The zero g indicator was a great touch 1:48

[@MrLuumpy]

Your future is bright with those dam skillz.

[@trapstoner]

That was a whole short movie damn! I loved every second of it thank you!

[@velin3d]

Thanks to you for watching! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[@miou118google]

Magnifique

[@spacebeetle]

Best animation so far! Loved it!❤

[@velin3d]

Thank you I'm glad you liked it!

[@collisionspace]

WOW Amazing!!!!! Excellent animation!👍

[@Erica-fk2wp]

good model

[@mikecleverly7021]

Absolutely outstanding work 👍

[@velin3d]

Thanks a lot man!

[@PaddyPatrone]

Crazy good animation!

[@Tuuminshz]

Just Incredible! All is on point the great music and animation

[@velin3d]

Thank you! The music helps a lot. It's from the incredible landing scene in the movie first man.

[@brentmsdn]

Amazing. Many thanks for this work!

[@velin3d]

Thank you, glad you liked it!

[@rustyshackleford234]

My two new favorite human-grade spacecraft: the Orion and starship HLS 😁

[@ZebraFacts]

One thing that's been on my mind when it comes to elevators. There is always a ladder just in case the elevator stops working. The Mood Ship should have foot and hand ports going up the side, just in case, there is some sort of elevator failure. I envision ports as you have on your car for filling it with gas or plugging in the charger. That way, the surface can stay smooth (if that is needed) and the astronauts can open them manually (if needed). Another thought. I can also envision a tube-like vein going all the way up the side of the ship with a ladder-like system or a manual type pully. Maybe even a cable that the astronauts can attach a battery-powered device that would attach to the cable and pull them up, in case of an elevator failure. I'm not promoting this particular product but as an example. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rqfVloiZhdKYnK8

[@rushtv320]

This literally what I was thinking about

[@nkronert]

Try climbing a ladder that high with a spacesuit on. Also, in case the elevator mechanism would fail, they need to have a way to dump the whole thing overboard, because otherwise you'd have a liftoff under asymmetric weight distribution and dangling cables plus "basket" that go all over the place during manoeuvring. I would not fly on that thing until they have proven 100+ times that this concept works reliably.

[@Comanchedrive]

A very well made video.

[@carsongbaker]

Wow! Well done! Subbed! Saw this on Reddit

[@AnyTwoWillD0]

Wow! Great work. I know how difficult and time consuming it is. You are great. Thank you for giving us the visual of what to come from SpaceX! 👊

[@velin3d]

Thank you!!

[@Hale-Bopp]

I can't wait for NASA's second moon landing.. Thank you SpaceX for these new and more advance machines you're building for NASA missions.

[@rodrigolefever2426]

You mean the 7th moon landing?

[@Lion_McLionhead]

Hipster astronaut got us back to the moon.

[@fahimjaowad8717]

Amazing! Futurology used your clips in their video, hope u got paid well!

[@averagejoe8255]

Outstanding production! You are a true master of your craft.

[@velin3d]

Thank you!! I started this project as a way to learn Blender. I'm actually a noob at this stuff so it means a lot to me that you liked it!

[@gramunhaosatan6780]

Incrível 🐺

[@donjones4719]

Very enjoyable. SpaceX's renders with the initial announcement indicate 1 center Raptor and 1 Rvac will be used for deorbit and most of the descent, with the auxiliary landing engines only being used when close to the surface. They indicate this by the 2 engine bells glowing dull red, having shut off to avoid impinging on the regolith. 3 Rvacs would be overkill, afaik. 1 center Raptor won't be as efficient but is mainly there for gimbaling. The landing engines will very likely be pressure-fed, with a less efficient Isp than a Raptor, so will not be suited for a deorbit burn. I really like the interior - the see-thru control screen is cool and actually plausible. A personal quibble - the alien zero-g indicator looks pretty creepy to me, it'll probably be distracting for a wider audience. It's fun how the descent on the lift looks so much like old sci fi - but is accurate for an actual scheduled NASA mission.

[@velin3d]

Thank you for the detailed info and feedback! You are right about the zero-g indicator. When I added it I tought it would be funny. After I finished rendering i realized it was not a good idea but didn't want to render it again from scratch. I should have used a stuffed animal or something simlar like they do in Crew Dragon missions...

[@wingsley]

Great video. Maybe someday... hoefully in the 2020s...

[@keylepXD95]

tu videos esta muy genial , haz mas asi

[@velin3d]

Gracias!

[@keylepXD95]

A pesar de que sea tu primer video en casi 10 años esta muy bien , deberias hacer mas videos relacionados a los proyectos de elon musk, creo que sr verian muy geniales si tu los haces

[@velin3d]

@@keylepXD95 Estoy pensando en hacer otro video sobre la misión de SpaceX a Marte pero estas animaciones toman mucho tiempo así que no se para cuando va a ser.

[@RichardAllen7753]

Watched the whole thing. Quality here is exceptional! Please make more.

[@velin3d]

Thank you! I want to make another one with the Mars version of Starship but can't promise anything because I have to model everything from scratch and don't have a lot of free time so it will be a slow progress.

[@RichardAllen7753]

@@velin3d i can relate to that. gotta work. do u use Blender?

[@velin3d]

@@RichardAllen7753 Yes. I first started using it 2 years ago but this is my first big project. Before that I only did some static renders and short animations to learn the basics.

[@RichardAllen7753]

@@velin3d im guessing u did 3D before blender. 2 yrs is quick to learn the skills in ur video. Heres my latest and ive been using Blender since 2017. Sketchup for years before that. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6LXhGCXZqx8ZpY

[@velin3d]

@@RichardAllen7753 No I have not done anything 3d before but had some experience with coding 2d mobile games. That render you made is very nicely done. Lots of details and the ocean looks very realistic! Did you model everything from scratch?

[@make-randomstuff7974]

Excellent job, this looks almost real. What I would love to see is something like frost or dust on the windows like you see in Apollo 13 for example.

[@NOM-X]

Looks about right. But the first couple of times has to un-maned. But I think we all know that about now. Great rendering.

[@cweefy]

This is going to happen. It's going to be normal and it's going to be routine. Just try and imagine where the industry will be in 20, 30, 50 years !

[@christopherrasmussen8718]

Well done. He has but a few years to make this real 😅

[@andrewfarrow4699]

Nice work. Landing gear would be deployed before the HLS even left Earth orbit. Astronauts don't need or want seats. There is very little G loading for them to deal with. I reckon they would just stand up like Apollo LM crews did. Maybe foot restraints and a bum perch rail behind them to stabilise themselves.

[@xyzero1682]

Incredible work. inb4 music kawpeerite

[@velin3d]

Hope not lol I'm not monetizing so it should be good

[@danhunters8226]

Really nice animation. Think the landing engines will burn for a lot shorter though. They are just there to avoid kicking dust into orbit and the pressure from the raptor engines spreads out quickly. Im guessing it will just be a short burst the last 50 meters.

[@velin3d]

Yeah you are probably right they ignite way too soon.

[@basilcurrie8138]

I wonder how the landing legs would work since the Moon's surface is not solid, but powdery and compressible. It'd be like a skyscraper without a foundation. I wonder if a horizontal landing would be easier since a vertical one would be at risk of falling over, and it needs separate landing engines anyways. It could land on wheels like an aircraft, allowing it to move like those Antarctic bases on sleds.

[@dmsfresh6413]

Can I use it in my video

[@userdevice0789]

What if the lift breaks down then should the astranauts survive on moon how will they get back to hls what is the alternate route

[@xentaatnex8261]

Behold a great chariot of fire from the heavens.

[@elfaix]

Для торможения на орбите Луны (с целью перехода на траекторию посадки) включаются 3 двигателя Раптор-Вакуум, каждый тягой по 250 тонн и суммарной тягой 750 тонн. Вес Лунного Старшипа в этот момент составляет 74 тонны (в поле гравитации Луны). Торможение с 10-кратной перегрузкой? Двигатели Раптор нужны только для транслунной инжекции и после этого их можно выбросить вон вместе с пустыми баками на 1200 тонн топлива. Задача посадки на Луну после этого намного упростится.

[@andreb.8266]

Very good and impressive, the ship as too many landing reactor and it lack a safety ladder but everything look pretty good. Not sure it can be good to have a landed ship at angle, you do not want this to fall and you still have gravity so its not good to have it tilted.

[@danhunters8226]

The ship is coming from orbit so it's traveling in a parabola. You don't want the engines to point down you want them to point retrograde so they cancel out your velocity. And you do want to fall, that's how you get down to the surface.

[@2660016A]

What’s the soundtrack?

[@ataaah]

Very nicely done but the pacing is ssssslllllllllooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww. I watched it on double speed and, while it wasn't The Expanse, it was a fun ride. Good work!

[@user-yk7yv8rb5i]

Good way of getting down but what happens if the elevator did not going up?

[@wxb200]

If there's anything I've learned from Kerbal Space Program, that is that flat/level ground is a little hard to find...

[@freeamericanthinker558]

Will there be more?

[@velin3d]

I'm planning to do a full animation from earth launch to mars landing in the future. But I have to model the mars version of starship from scratch so it will take some time

[@lyleshoostine1683]

Would prefer the landing legs be extended and inspected prior to lunar surface descent. How automatic are the controls? Does the pilot have manual override so the ship lands on a level, boulderless surface? Remember Neil Armstrong had to take manual control because instruments had the LEM landing in a boulder field.

[@velin3d]

Yeah I made it this way because Starship looks more aesthetic without the legs extended. And about the manual controls we don't know because the ship does not exist yet! But I guess it will all be completely automated. This animation is not intented to be an accurate representation of the real mission because we don't have much info yet. I just wanted to make a cinematic movie with a plausible landing sequence.

[@JohnBlackburn1975]

I assume they have mapped the Moon much better than in 1969 but still I'm concerned Starship might topple over. Might be better to send up a robot to create a flat landing pad before the human mission... The Moon is not flat or smooth, it's pretty rough in most places.

[@carsongbaker]

Thoughts on making a second channel with this kind of content?

[@Comanchedrive]

I saw a small "X" logo at the base of the rocket ship and a very large NASA logo

[@pedroberg]

You show us a lot of film, serrios when wil it happ. Or wil it hap.

[@velin3d]

The Mission is planned for 2025 but most likely it will happen closer to 2030

[@GenXCoder]

Doesn't Starship rely on gravity feed for the fuel tanks. How will this affect starting a deorbit burn? Won't the fuel just be floating around in the tanks?

[@velin3d]

At 1:38 you can see the RCS thrusters firing to move the fuel to the bottom of the tanks.

[@RobinClaassen]

Isn't the plan for the Human Landing System to depart from the Lunar Gateway before landing on the moon, rather than an Orion capsule?

[@mmeiselph7234]

Orion can't be that close to the Moon, sadly. Closest is over 3000km

[@velin3d]

I didn't know that. What's the reason for that limitation? I thought Orion would meet with Starship on Low Moon Orbit

[@mmeiselph7234]

@@velin3d The Orion Service module lacks the delta v. SLS can send Orion to TLI, and Orion could put itself in low lunar orbit-but it would not have the propellant left to head back to Earth if it did. The nominal mission profile is to brake into a distant lunar orbit-Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit-for just a few hundred m/s of dv. Starship would meet it there. It could actually meet Starship in some intermediate orbit and retain the ability to head home, but it would still be much higher above the Moon than the Apollo CSMs orbited.

[@velin3d]

@@mmeiselph7234 Thank you for the detailed info! I should have researched more before doing the animation

[@mmeiselph7234]

@@velin3d Your animation was fantastic! It would be possible for Starship to meet Orion at an orbit Orion can do, then take it down to a lower orbit, I suppose-then Orion doesn't have to circularize so low, spending propellant, and has the dv to return directly to Earth. In that case Starship is doing the burn for it. This would reduce some risk, as SS would then just have to get the crew to a low lunar orbit. It actually might be a plausible architecture.

[@toiletdroid5914]

Do full stack launch with First Man launch sound track please

[@velin3d]

I plan to do a full stack launch and Mars landing in the future but first I have to model the rocket and launch pad so it will take quite some time

[@TomPeck76]

The Eagle Two has landed.

[@terezinharibeiro1670]

imagine the space vacuum force in yo body 🌚.....

[@Tom-nd1fs]

How do they make sure surface is absolutely flat, otherwise the rocket will topple over.

[@JohnBlackburn1975]

Makes me realise how ridiculously huge Starship is compared to Orion. What are the astronauts going to do with all that empty space? Also they'd better find a really flat, horizontal area or Starship is going to topple over. I'd love it if this actually happened in 2025 but I seriously doubt we'll see if before 2030 if at all.

[@Turambar3791]

I just hope that they will deploy landing gear before doing landing, if that thing fail they will die, and I really hope that they will try to land an uncrew spaceship first.

[@dave95841]

Vacuum Raptor 2 only. No atmospheric Raptors on the lunar lander. Easy mistake, but I would hate that this mistake goes unchecked.

[@joshuabarrick5468]

Dear velin3d, my name is Josh, and I am an Archivist for a NASA-approved BBC/Curiosity Stream documentary series. I was wondering whether you had an email address we can contact to ask for permission to use some of your animations for our show? Thank you

[@velin3d]

Hello Joshua, I have added my email address on my channel info.

[@theoldsport1062]

First Man enjoyer

[@anthonyhunt701]

According to NASA a few min ago, only 2 will go to the lunar surface..

[@Tyrantking-9380]

I hope to see this become a reality, best of luck to both SpaceX and NASA.

[@Enregardant]

Excellent . But , you can keep more ad revenue by using copyright free music. Look into Holst The Planets.

[@kagz100]

i wish there was voice acting

[@davidbocek]

didnt have one Henway in it.

[@felipelaso2091]

Do one developing on the Moon with real SpaceX ideas

[@felipelaso2091]

Step by step... at the same time doing things on Mars

[@alexhawkins1795]

The eagle has landed

[@youhavenews]

*why don't you do more 3d videos of Elon Musk's Super Heavy? I see a lot of people are concerned about this, hope you will make more videos like this in the future*

[@hamonuryams6388]

I really hope spacex ends up making their own space suits for outside use. Bc i feel like anything they whip up is going to be instantly better than Nasa’s and wont need assistance getting up stairs when presenting it.

[@Bugsey35]

Hopefully SpaceX is working with MIT and developing their compression suit technology.

[@hamonuryams6388]

@@Bugsey35 i heard about that concept and i hope they do go with it

[@JanKowalski-vj9py]

So much shaking? Why? None of Apollo landing films contain shaking.

[@velin3d]

This animation is inspired from the landing scene in the movie First Man where there is a lot of shaking in the cockpit. It's just for added dramatic effect. Maybe I overdid it but It's not meant to be realistic. In real life it will probably be a very smooth ride.

[@vincentlewis1297]

I really dig SpaceX yet I see problems with this, the moon's surface is unpredictable, any variation in density and its potential catastrophe.

[@terezinharibeiro1670]

first we need stop primitive goals 🤚☠..

[@Kapitananime]

it will not work

[@limitbreak2321]

Why

[@Comanchedrive]

What with the stupid alien?

[@velin3d]

I thought it would be funny but it was a bad idea.

[@davidhepburn9328]

I've seen better animation/CGI on "Thunderbirds"!!!

[@robertcarbno3914]

Fantastic video but reality is right now no launches no room for crew just fuel FAA seems to want Spacex to slow down so other companies can try to catch up and the craft to land on the Moon and Mars is still not built or tested and has not even faced a proof of concept. I wish with all my heart that this beautiful video becomes reality soon but so far zero launches to space zero launches of the booster and no repeated landings proof of survivability for ship and crew has not even been shown with a single trip to space. This entire dream could die if Elon stops pushing this forward because he is the only driving force for it right now. Like Elon said it is not a forgone conclusion that man will move to a multi planet stage. Right now we can barely make it to Earth orbit without Elon's drive who would put us on Mars , not NASA the vision they had ended 20 years ago when they began to only test and never risk. Go Elon it would seem our species has only one visionary left at least for now.