Shackleton Station Declared Open as Humanity's First Permanent Settlement Beyond Earth

All 48 founding residents from 14 member nations are now in residence at the lunar south pole.

SHACKLETON CRATER, LUNAR SOUTH POLE — The International Lunar Settlement Authority (ILSA) today declared Shackleton Station officially open at 6:00 a.m. Eastern time, when the last of its 48 founding residents passed through the station's main airlock. Shackleton Station is the first permanent human settlement beyond Earth, designed for year-round residence rather than rotating crews.

About the station

• Eleven pressurized domes linked by tunnels, with about 4,200 square meters of living and working space
• Radiation shielding of nearly two meters of 3D-printed lunar regolith, begun by robotic landers in 2023
• Water, oxygen and hydrogen fuel produced from ice mined in the crater's permanently shadowed floor
• Power from rim-mounted solar towers, backed by a compact fission reactor buried about one kilometer away
• A centrifuge gym, a greenhouse producing lettuce, tomatoes and strawberries, and an Earth-facing observation lounge

What comes next

ILSA plans to welcome 72 additional residents by late 2027. A lottery for civilian residency applications is expected to open in 2027, and the first family housing module is scheduled for 2029. A full environmental report on the station and the crater's ice reserves will be published next month.