NASA has announced that a crucial part of Gateway, the first space station around the Moon, has been delivered to the United States from Italy.

The agency said Friday the Habitation and Logistics Outpost, or HALO, the future space station’s first pressurized module, arrived in Arizona from Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, on April 1. With this development, NASA is closer to launching Gateway.

Preparing for Launch

The HALO module will go through a final outfitting process at Northrop Grumman’s integration and test facility in Gilbert, Arizona. It will then be transported to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to be integrated with Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element. Once ready, the modules will be launched together onboard a SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket.

Supporting Future Moon and Mars Missions

The Gateway space station will play a crucial role in the Artemis program. It is intended to facilitate the return of humans to the lunar surface and pave the way for scientific exploration for future crewed missions to Mars.

HALO will serve as a habitat for Artemis astronauts. It will provide them with living quarters and workspaces and provide what they need for conducting scientific research while preparing for missions to the Moon. The module will have docking stations to accommodate lunar landers, logistics modules and visiting vehicles like NASA’s Orion spacecraft. Furthermore, HALO will support science payloads for research and technology.

The chief of space operations told Congress that present policies are restricting the U.S. Space Force’s capabilities to respond to threats on U.S. assets in orbit. During a congressional hearing Thursday, Gen. Chance Saltzman, a three-time Wash100 Award winner, discussed with lawmakers the importance of establishing a declaratory policy to move fast, especially as adversaries like China rapidly expand their presence in space.

Bureaucracy Impeding US Space Superiority

Saltzman explained to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a bipartisan advisory group, the current process to carry out basic operations such as developing and testing capabilities and training, all of which are done in simulation. 

In his written testimony, the space leader pointed out that the U.S. government and the Department of Defense have outdated ways of thinking, leading to restrictive space policies. 

He said, “we restrain ourselves from doing what is needful to avoid creating improper perceptions of ‘weaponizing space.’ In reality, space has been weaponized for at least two decades, and our slowness to absorb that reality has held back our progress.”

He also raised concerns about over-classification, which affects information-sharing across the Joint Force and with partners and allies. Saltzman said the present attitude about information sharing is “need to know” rather than “need to share,” which the official said is a more progressive take.