Inside a research center in Mountain View, engineers are rehearsing what it might feel like to touch down on the moon for the first time since 1972. NASA Ames Research Center is developing and testing systems for future lunar missions under the Artemis program, using advanced simulators to recreate conditions astronauts could experience during a moon landing.
As reported by ABC7 News Bay Area, NASA is preparing for the first crewed moon mission since 1972, with the Artemis mission currently scheduled for 2028. That timeline lines up with a NASA announcement describing the agency as targeting the next lunar landing in 2028 through the Artemis program, according to a release posted on nasa.gov.
At the center of the effort is the Vertical Motion Simulator, which NASA Ames describes as the world's largest simulator of its kind. Haroon Khan, a human spaceflight simulation research integrator at NASA Ames Research Center's Flight and Guidance Simulation Laboratories, said the simulator ride will convey motion astronauts could feel while landing on the moon, per the ABC7 News Bay Area report.
How the Simulator Recreates a Lunar Descent
The machine's reach is substantial: NASA's Ames Research Center uses the Vertical Motion Simulator to recreate flight conditions, and the simulator cab can move as much as 60 feet vertically and 40 feet horizontally as it simulates all phases of flight, according to nasa.gov. The system is designed to help astronauts experience and train for conditions that cannot otherwise be replicated outside spaceflight, allowing engineers to study reactions before anyone actually leaves Earth.
NASA astronaut Doug “Wheels” Wheelock said the simulator was important in his own training, describing it as NASA's premier motion-based simulator with almost unbounded vertical motion. The agency has also published material documenting the interior displays used inside the lunar-lander simulation at the Vertical Motion Simulator, giving a glimpse of the controls crews would face during a descent.
From Mountain View Data to Houston Decisions
The work happening in the Bay Area isn't staying local. NASA Ames researchers use the simulator and related studies to gather information meant to improve spacecraft systems and astronaut training, and Khan said the research will inform spacecraft displays, vehicle operation, and astronaut training before people are sent to the moon. NASA Ames also plans to share simulation and research information with teams in Houston, connecting the Mountain View lab directly to the broader Artemis program's mission planning.
NASA has separately said it invited media to participate in a Vertical Motion Simulator ride-along and interview subject matter experts as part of the push to showcase the program, according to the nasa.gov release. Elsewhere in NASA's published materials, the agency has noted that companies are developing crew and cargo versions of their landers for near-term Artemis missions, tied to language describing a planned return of American astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028.
A Simulator With a Longer History
The Vertical Motion Simulator's role in lunar lander work predates the current Artemis push. As part of the Human Landing System project, Ames researchers in the simulator have partnered with selected vendors to design, develop, and demonstrate systems for future missions, per nasa.gov. In 2023, three groups — from Dynetics, Blue Federation, and the NASA Astronaut Office — each spent a day flying a legacy lunar lander simulation and experienced the simulator's large motion envelope, the agency reported.
More recently, NASA reported that a full-scale mock-up of a crew cabin for a future industry lunar lander became operational for training and testing in 2026. Together, the simulator work in Mountain View and the hardware mock-ups elsewhere in the program illustrate how much ground-based preparation NASA says is underway as it works toward the 2028 target for returning astronauts to the lunar surface.
