The next lunar eclipse will be a deep partial lunar eclipse overnight Aug. 27-28, 2026.

The system is outlined in a recent study, and it’s a lot more complex than one would think. Gateway and other spacecraft orbiting the moon are expected to use the near-rectilinear halo orbit, which takes spacecraft around both poles of the moon.

As researchers explain in a study recently published in the journal Acta Astronautica, these systems will all relate back to a route called the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO). The largely stable orbital path offers the most fuel efficient cosmic highway and an interrupted line of sight between spacecraft and mission specialists back home.

NASA wants to move faster on a permanent Moon base, but its schedule still runs through an unavoidable safety gate: SpaceX and Blue Origin must each complete a successful uncrewed lunar landing before NASA will put astronauts aboard their vehicles.

But using GPS becomes much harder as a spacecraft ventures far beyond Earth. Its signals grow weaker, the geometry gets worse, and missions near the Moon still can’t count on the kind of continuous positioning service we take for granted on the ground.

The moon's getting its first airport, and it's about to get busy. Within the next two decades, NASA's planned Gateway—humanity's first lunar spaceport—may become a bustling hub for Orion crew capsules,

Watch August's Sturgeon Moon and a deep partial lunar eclipse in Alabama. Here's when the eclipse begins, peaks and ends on Aug. 27-28.

An event known as a deep partial lunar eclipse will happen later tonight as Earth passes directly between the sun and moon. And experts say Michigan should be a prime location to witness the phenomenon.