A gateway to the Gateway around the moon | Space picture of the day for April 16, 2025

On April 3, 2025, Northrop Grumman took delivery of the HALO, or Habitation and Logistics Outpost, for NASA’s Gateway lunar orbit platform. The company will put the module through its final tests before it leaves for Florida and the launch pad.

What is it?

NASA’s Artemis program Gateway will be a human-tended, small space station in orbit around the moon. As one of its first components to be launched, the Habitation and Logistics Outpost, or HALO, will be where astronauts live and conduct scientific research before NASA’s international partners add additional modules.

The HALO will provide command, control and data handling capabilities, energy storage and power distribution, thermal control, communications and tracking capabilities, according to Thales Alenia Space, which built the pressure vessel as a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman.

The HALO has three docking ports for visiting vehicles and to attach future components. Up to four Artemis astronauts will be able to stay aboard the HALO for as long as a month while they come and go to the moon’s South Pole.

Where is it?

The HALO is now at Northrop Grumman’s facility in Gilbert, Arizona, having arrived from Turin, Italy, where Thales Alenia Space built its primary structure. It will now undergo final outfitting in Gilbert before being shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for integration with the Power and Propulsion Element and its launch to the moon.

Why is it amazing?

This is one more small step toward humans establishing a sustainable presence at the moon.

While the change of an administration and NASA leadership could lead to changes in priorities and program directions, with the hardware now being readied for launch, the existing plans graduate from ideas to tangible hardware waiting to be used.

Want to know more?

You can read more about the basics of the Gateway and view a 3D video of the lunar orbit platform. You can also read about what astronauts will wear when living and working aboard the HALO.