NASA has released a video showing the build plan for the Gateway lunar space station, which is scheduled to begin construction in 2024.
The video begins with the arrival of Maxar Technologies' Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) into NRHO (Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit). At NRHO, the I-Hab (International Habitation Module) residential module of the European Space Agency (ESA) with the first crew on board docks with it. It is planned to be launched on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket along with the Orion spacecraft.
After some time, the Orion, together with the crew, returns to Earth. A logistics module arrives in orbits for docking, carrying with it robotic systems of the Canadian Space Agency, such as the Canadarm-3 manipulator. The logistics module is a cargo spacecraft for replenishing supplies at the station, similar to the Russian Progress.
After SpaceX will send the Human Landing System (HLS) to the station for landing and takeoff from the Moon, as well as delivering the necessary equipment to the Earth's satellite. After that, the ESPRIT-RM module (European System Providing Refueling, Infrastructure, and Telecommunications Refueler Module) and the Nanoracks Bishop Airlock gateway module arrive at the station. In parallel with this, missions are being sent to the Orion station and Crew Dragon and logistics modules with a crew and the necessary equipment and supplies, as well as several HLS landings on the moon with a return to the station.
The international manned near-lunar station Gateway should become for the crew an intermediate point on the way to the Moon and, in the future, to Mars. Also, thanks to the station, it is planned to conduct research on the moon and its surface, analyze lunar soil. According to the plan, the station will not be permanently inhabited, since at such a distance the crew will not be protected from cosmic radiation by the Earth's magnetic field.
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