The moon could get its first residents by the 2030s; here's what Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Sam Altman are saying

NASA has been working on sending humans back to the moon with its upcoming Artemis IV mission, and the space agency has also shared its even bigger plans to build a base on the lunar surface as early as the 2030s. If that happens, astronauts could soon have a place to stay on the lunar surface for a longer period, rather than just visiting the Moon and coming back home.

But that’s not all. Some of the biggest names in tech and space exploration, such as Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Jeff Bezos, believe that even ordinary people could one day live and work on the Moon. So, how realistic is that future and just how far are we from seeing people actually call the Moon home? Here’s what they have in mind.

NASA is already working towards building a Moon Base, which it calls it the "humanity’s first lunar outpost, a place where astronauts will live, work, and explore near the Moon’s South Pole." Humans have already lived continuously on the International Space Station (ISS) for the last 26 years, and the same could soon be possible on the Moon. 

Commenting on this, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, "The Moon Base will be America's and humanity's first outpost on another celestial world. Every mission, crewed and uncrewed, will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable."

In NASA's plan to take humanity back to the Moon, SpaceX has become one of the major contributors as its Starship HLS (Human Landing System) has been selected by the agency as the official lunar lander for the Artemis program (Artemis III and Artemis IV).

Elon Musk has also shared his plans for the moon, saying, "We are going to land a lot of tonnage on the moon. We're going to build the factories on the moon. The robots will be helpful with that." He added, "Using robots on the moon to scale up manufacturing on the moon — which, I know it sounds, like, super sci-fi right now, but it's going to happen — will enable us to build the mass accelerator on the moon."

In a conversation with Fortune, Voyager Technologies founder Dylan Taylor shared that there will be people living and working on the moon, and humanity will “be able to look up at the moon and see lights on the moon." He doesn't think humanoid robots, like Tesla's Optimus, can handle this work alone. 

"You're not going to be able to program Optimus to do everything on the moon," he said. "You're going to have to have humans to figure it out." In other words, unpredictable, hands-on problems in an unfamiliar environment may still require human judgment, even as automation improves.

Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has a different vision. He's said that by 2045, millions of people could be living in space, but he doesn't expect humans to be the ones doing the physical labor on the moon. 

Speaking at Italian Tech Week 2025, Bezos explained, "If you need to do some work on the surface of the moon or anywhere else, we will be able to send robots to do that work." He added an optimistic note for anyone worried about missing the moment: "I don't see how anybody can be discouraged who is alive right now."

On the other hand, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expects the shift to happen even faster for the workforce. He's predicted that within less than 10 years, college graduates could work in space and get paid very well.

“In 2035, that graduating college student, if they still go to college at all, could very well be leaving on a mission to explore the solar system on a spaceship in some completely new, exciting, super well-paid, super interesting job,” Altman told video journalist Cleo Abram.