We have walked there. We have not remained.
Desde Vélez-Málaga hasta el Centro Espacial Kennedy, Carlos García-Galán ha recorrido una distancia que va mucho más allá de los kilómetros: es la distancia entre lo que una generación consideraba imposible y lo que la siguiente dará por sentado. Con su nombramiento como director principal del programa de Base Lunar de la NASA, un proyecto de veinte mil millones de dólares que aspira a establecer presencia humana permanente en la Luna antes de 2032, este ingeniero malagueño encarna el momento en que Europa deja de ser espectadora del cosmos para convertirse en arquitecta de su futuro.
- La humanidad ha pisado la Luna, pero nunca ha permanecido en ella — el programa que dirige García-Galán existe precisamente para cerrar esa brecha histórica.
- El lanzamiento inminente de Artemis II, con cuatro astronautas a bordo en un viaje de más de 1,1 millones de kilómetros, pone a prueba si la nave Orion puede sostener vida humana en el espacio profundo.
- Construir en el polo sur lunar exige resolver un problema sin precedentes: la luz solar es insuficiente, lo que obliga a desarrollar reactores nucleares que podrían transformar también el acceso a la energía en los lugares más remotos de la Tierra.
- España ya no es solo un país del que hay que emigrar para trabajar en la exploración espacial — empresas madrileñas y vascas fabrican componentes para la Orion, y Málaga ha consolidado su propio tejido aeroespacial.
- García-Galán mira hacia los estudiantes de hoy como los directores de misión del mañana, y sugiere que la generación que ahora está en las aulas podría estar construyendo una base en Marte dentro de treinta años.
Carlos García-Galán nació hace cincuenta y un años en Vélez-Málaga, en una época en que un español trabajando para la NASA era poco más que una fantasía. Hoy, desde el Centro Espacial Kennedy en Florida, dirige uno de los proyectos de ingeniería más ambiciosos de la historia: la construcción de una base permanente en la Luna. La semana pasada, la NASA lo nombró director principal del programa Moon Base, una iniciativa de veinte mil millones de dólares que se desarrollará a lo largo de siete años.
El trabajo se articula en tres fases. Hasta 2028, misiones robóticas repetidas validarán las rutas y las tecnologías necesarias para la habitabilidad. Entre 2029 y 2032 se levantará la infraestructura permanente: paneles solares, reactores nucleares, satélites de comunicación y robots que prepararán el terreno. A partir de 2032 llegarán los primeros módulos habitables, y los seres humanos comenzarán a trabajar en su interior. El lugar elegido es el polo sur lunar, donde las sombras permanentes guardan agua y elementos antiguos que son una ventana al origen del sistema solar.
La elección del polo sur no es solo científica: la escasa luz solar obliga a explorar reactores nucleares que, como derivación tecnológica, podrían llevar energía a hospitales en desiertos o comunidades en regiones inhóspitas. El programa Apolo entregó al mundo la microelectrónica; este entregará algo distinto, aún por definir.
Cuando García-Galán era niño en Torre del Mar, el espacio pertenecía a América. Ese mundo ha cambiado. La Agencia Espacial Europea colabora ahora con la NASA en la base lunar, empresas españolas fabrican componentes para la nave Orion, y Málaga ha construido un sector aeroespacial propio. García-Galán sigue ese ecosistema de cerca, participa en foros y habla con estudiantes de ingeniería. El sueño ya no es marcharse de España. El sueño está aquí.
Cuando le preguntaron si le gustaría visitar la Luna una vez construida la base, se rió. Por supuesto que sí. Pero su respuesta más honda apuntaba a otra parte: quiere que los jóvenes españoles entiendan que esto no es imposible, que si él lo logró, ellos también pueden. Los estudiantes de hoy serán los directores de estos proyectos en veinte o treinta años. Para entonces, quizás estén construyendo una base en Marte.
Carlos García-Galán was born in Vélez-Málaga fifty-one years ago, in a time when the idea of a Spaniard working at NASA seemed like an impossible dream. Now, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, he oversees one of humanity's most ambitious engineering projects: building a permanent base on the Moon. Last week, NASA appointed him principal director of the Moon Base program, a twenty-billion-dollar initiative that will unfold over seven years and reshape how humans live beyond Earth.
On Wednesday, April 1st, García-Galán was preparing for the launch of Artemis II, a test flight that would send four astronauts on a ten-day journey covering more than 1.1 million kilometers in a loop around the Moon. This mission exists to prove that the Orion spacecraft can sustain human life in deep space—testing oxygen systems, carbon dioxide scrubbers, food, exercise, manual controls, the basic machinery of survival. Artemis I, in 2022, had circled the Moon without a crew. This time, people would be aboard.
The larger purpose is to establish what humans have never done: stay on the Moon permanently. We have walked there, left footprints, collected rocks. But we have not remained. We have not worked there, built there, lived there. García-Galán's job is to make that possible. The work will happen in three phases. From now until 2028, robotic missions will land repeatedly, proving the route is reliable and testing the technologies needed for permanent habitation. From 2029 to 2032, permanent infrastructure will rise—solar panels, nuclear reactors, communication and navigation satellites, robots to level the terrain. By 2032, the first habitable modules will arrive, and humans will begin to work inside them.
The location matters. NASA wants to build at the lunar south pole, where sunlight grazes the horizon and shadows stretch for billions of years. In those shadows, water and ancient elements wait, untouched by atmosphere or weathering, a window into the solar system's origin. But the low light also means solar panels alone will not work. García-Galán's team will experiment with nuclear reactors, technology that could eventually power remote places on Earth—hospitals in deserts, research stations in frozen regions, communities in inhospitable terrain. The spinoff is not incidental. The Apollo program gave the world microelectronics. This one will give something else.
When García-Galán was a boy in Torre del Mar, watching boats in the summer, the space program belonged to America. You had to leave Spain to be part of it. That world has changed. The European Space Agency now partners with NASA on the lunar base. Spanish companies in Madrid and the Basque Country manufacture components for the Orion spacecraft. Málaga itself has built a substantial aerospace industry. García-Galán follows it closely, attends forums, speaks with engineers and students at the School of Telecommunications. He knows DHV Technology, has seen them in Washington when NASA announced the programs. The dream is no longer to escape Spain. The dream is here.
He was asked if he would like to visit the Moon when the base is built, to see his team's work in person. He laughed. Of course he would. Space tourism exists now, though it is expensive. In a few years, who knows what will be possible. But the deeper answer was about the next generation. García-Galán wants young people in Spain to understand that this is not impossible, that if he did it, they can too. The students in school now will be leading these projects in twenty or thirty years. By then, they might be building a base on Mars.
Citações Notáveis
You don't have to leave Spain to work in the space program anymore. There's real aerospace industry in Málaga now.— Carlos García-Galán
The importance of this base is that it will give us the capacity, as humanity, to live and work on another planet.— Carlos García-Galán
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
You grew up in a place where working at NASA seemed like a fantasy. What changed?
Everything. When I was young, you had to leave Spain to be part of the space program. Now the European Space Agency partners with NASA. Spanish companies build components. Málaga has a real aerospace industry. The dream doesn't require emigration anymore.
The Moon base is a twenty-billion-dollar project. What makes it worth that cost?
We've never lived anywhere but Earth. This teaches us how to do it. The technologies we develop—nuclear reactors, power systems for extreme environments—will help us on Earth too. But the real value is what it inspires. Children watching this will become engineers and scientists. That's worth the investment.
You're building at the south pole, where it's always dark. That seems like the hardest place to choose.
It is. But the shadows there hold water and ancient materials that have been untouched for billions of years. That's a window into how our solar system formed. The difficulty is the point. We learn by solving hard problems.
When will people actually live there?
Not for a while. First, robotic missions through 2028 to prove we can land reliably. Then infrastructure—power, communications, robots—until 2032. After that, the habitable modules arrive and the real work begins. It's a long build.
Would you go there yourself if you could?
Without hesitation. I'd want to see what my team built. I grew up dreaming of being an astronaut. This is the closest I'll get, and it's enough.