NASA Pushes Back Crewed Moon Landing to 2028
Under the updated framework, Artemis III will no longer serve as the crewed lunar landing mission. Instead, it will pivot to a systems-focused shakedown in low Earth orbit in 2027, paving the way for the Artemis IV lunar landing mission the following year, the agency said in an official news release.
The revamped Artemis III mission is set to be a technically dense undertaking — encompassing a rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial lunar landers under development by SpaceX and Blue Origin, in-space vehicle testing, integrated checks of life support, communications and propulsion systems, and evaluation of next-generation Extravehicular Activity suits.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman defended the phased approach as the surest path to success.
"Standardizing vehicle configuration, increasing flight rate and progressing through objectives in a logical, phased approach, is how we achieved the near-impossible in 1969 and it is how we will do it again," said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
The announcement comes on the heels of two wet dress rehearsals completed for the Artemis II crewed lunar mission, during which engineers flagged technical issues requiring attention. Following those tests, NASA rolled the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft back from the launch pad to the Vehicle Assembly Building for troubleshooting.
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