NASA and SpaceX Are Building a Moon Base — Here's Where Things Stand

A formal Moon Base news conference took place at 5 p.m. EST on November 7, 2026, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center as part of the MAX POWER aerospace expo — and according to on-the-ground reporting, the work between NASA and SpaceX to prepare a permanent lunar outpost is already underway. This isn't a concept slide deck. Physical preparations are in motion, and the event featured a physical display of what a moon base could look like in practice.

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What the MAX POWER Event Revealed

The MAX POWER event, hosted in the UP.Summit area at Kennedy Space Center, served as the backdrop for NASA's latest Moon Base briefing. Aerospace reporter Joe Tegtmeyer, reporting from the hangar and main stage, confirmed that the update was delivered to attendees alongside physical exhibits — including a display illustrating what a lunar base structure might look like and what it would contain.

The conference brought together external collaborators showcasing Moon rovers and spacecraft concepts alongside NASA's own progress report. The message from the agency was direct: preparation work has begun. This is no longer a planning exercise.

SpaceX's Role — and the Contract Behind It

SpaceX's involvement in lunar infrastructure runs deep. According to NASA, the agency awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract in April 2021 for the development, manufacture, and two crewed lunar landing flights of the Starship Human Landing System (HLS). A subsequent contract modification in November 2022 extended that scope to include a second crewed landing as part of Artemis IV, with requirements that include docking with the Lunar Gateway, carrying four crew members, and delivering significantly more mass to the surface.

The hardware itself is substantial. Starship HLS stands approximately 50 meters tall and 9 meters in diameter, and is designed to deliver up to 100 tons of cargo directly to the lunar surface — a payload capacity that makes permanent infrastructure delivery genuinely feasible for the first time.

From Artemis to a Permanent Outpost

The broader Artemis program has always had a Moon Base as its long-term destination — not just flags-and-footprints landings, but a sustained human presence on the lunar surface. The Lunar Gateway, a planned orbital station, is designed to serve as a staging point, while Starship HLS handles the surface delivery runs. The scale of what Starship can carry is what makes the base concept viable: you cannot build permanent infrastructure with small payload vehicles.

The MAX POWER event appears to mark a shift in how NASA is communicating this program — moving from future-tense announcements to present-tense progress updates. The confirmation that preparation work is actively underway, paired with a physical exhibit of base concepts at a public aerospace event, signals that the agency is ready to show rather than just tell.

The full details from the November 7 news conference are still being reported. But the direction is clear: the Moon Base is no longer a distant ambition — it's an active construction project with a named contractor and a timeline that's already in motion. For our SpaceX coverage, see all SpaceX articles here.

🚀 Following the Starship program? See every test flight, official outcome and the next launch window in our SpaceX Starship Tracker.

This report was curated by the BASENOR Editorial Desk from the sources listed above. Read our editorial standards or email editorial@basenor.com to report an error.