NASA’s overhauled Artemis mission design will push its lunar landing to 2028 |
NASA’s overhauled Artemis mission design will push its lunar landing to 2028
NASA is streamlining its SLS rocket build and workflow to maintain skill sets, mitigate risk, and eventually launch every year.
NASA’s crawler-transporter 2, carrying NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft secured to mobile launcher 1, rolls back Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to troubleshoot the flow of helium to the rocket’s upper stage, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage. [Photo: NASA/Kim Shiflett]
The moon is just going to have to wait a little longer.
NASA is pushing its moon landing back a year to streamline its rocket production and workforce to improve safety, accelerate mission frequency, and better compete with China’s growing space program, announced NASA administrator Jared Isaacman on Friday.
The revamped schedule calls for standardizing its massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket configuration and aligning workforces with private contractors with an eye toward launching as frequently as every 10 months.
Artemis III, initially slated to return astronauts to the lunar surface next year for the first time since 1972, will instead conduct tests in low-Earth orbit to validate systems and operational capabilities ahead of an Artemis IV landing in 2028. These tests include rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin, as well as in-space trials of life support, communications, propulsion systems, and Axiom Space’s new spacesuits. NASA also plans to use the mission to rebuild core strengths within its workforce, including more hands-on, side-by-side development with private partners.
The agency’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel report prompted the revamp, after flagging numerous safety concerns about an overambitious Artemis III that relies on too many novel technologies while attempting the first lunar landing at the South Pole. It also deemed the three-year gap between Artemis I and II too long to maintain skills and recommended smaller steps and more testing.
“When you are launching every three years, your skills atrophy, you lose muscle memory,” said Isaacman. “We’ve got a lot of really talented folks that have been working hard on the Artemis II campaign, and whether they’re going to want to stick around for three more years after this mission is complete is a question mark. This is just not the right pathway forward.”
The announcement comes amid delays to the Artemis II launch, caused by hydrogen leaks and helium flow issues that also plagued Artemis I, the uncrewed lunar flyby mission in 2022. Artemis II will carry astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day loop around the moon. Last week, NASA rolled the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs ahead of the next launch window in April.
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