NASA's Deep Space Gateway would serve as an international hub in orbit around the Moon; available to partner agencies from around the world as well as commercial ventures
active in cislunar space.
The MBC space station would consist of multiple separate components, some of which would be launched straight from Earth, while others might undergo some
construction in cislunar space.
Four years later, a manned Orion spacecraft is scheduled to approach and dock with the previously captured
asteroid in cislunar space, as part of EM - 2.
In the «Proving Ground» stage that follows, the space agency will not only conduct experiments and
operations in the cislunar space — the space around the moon — it will also develop and test technologies required for human exploration of Mars.
Williams said NASA would like to see some of its vehicles not only occupy a single orbit around the moon, but make trips to various
locations in cislunar space.)
«If we could conduct a yearlong crewed mission on this Deep Space
Transport in cislunar space, we believe we will know enough that we could then send this thing, crewed, on a 1,000 - day mission to the Mars system and back,» Williams said.