NASA's Gateway space station is moving closer to a launch after welding recently was completed on a module in Turin, Italy, the agency said Monday.
The Habitation and Logistics Outpost, or HALO, is one of four modules in which astronauts will live, conduct science and prepare for lunar surface missions.
The launch of Gateway is scheduled no earlier than 2025. In 2021, NASA awarded SpaceX a $331.8 million contract to launch the first two pieces of the outpost aboard the company's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket from Florida to the moon.
In a highly elliptical orbit, the space station will come to within approximately 1,865 miles of the lunar surface during its closest approach and then travel out to a distance of 43,500 miles before heading back in, according to the European Space Agency. A full orbit should take about a week.
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