News: NASA Overhauls Artemis Moon Program — First Landing Pushed to 2028 as Agency Confronts 'Skills Atrophy'

The most dramatic change involves Artemis III's mission profile. Rather than attempting the program's first crewed moon landing — which would have been the first human touchdown on the lunar surface since Apollo 17 in 1972 — the mission will now focus on orbital testing.

Specifically, Artemis III will practice rendezvous and docking with the lunar landing system in low-Earth orbit, a critical capability that has never been demonstrated with the current generation of hardware. The mission is now targeted for mid-2027.

The first actual moon landing shifts to Artemis IV, with a target date of 2028. In an ambitious move, NASA has suggested that Artemis V could follow later that same year, potentially delivering two lunar landings in a single calendar year. Artemis IV would use a SpaceX Starship lander, while Artemis V would employ Blue Origin's lunar lander — testing both systems in relatively quick succession.

At the heart of the restructuring lies a fundamental operational concern: the SLS rocket has been launching far too infrequently. More than three years have elapsed between Artemis I — an uncrewed test flight in November 2022 — and the upcoming Artemis II, a gap that NASA Administrator Isaacman called unacceptable.

'Launching a rocket is important, and as complex as SLS is, every three years is not a path to success,' Isaacman said, noting that such long intervals cause 'skills atrophy' and 'loss of muscle memory' among the engineers and technicians who build and operate the vehicle. He pointed to the Apollo program's rapid cadence as a benchmark: 'No one at NASA forgot their history books. They knew how to do this.'

Under the new plan, NASA aims to standardize the SLS rocket design from 2028 forward — eliminating what Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya called 'needlessly complicated' variant configurations — and target launches every 10 months rather than every three-plus years. The agency is also increasing its workforce, transitioning some contractor roles to federal positions to maintain institutional knowledge.

The restructuring was driven in part by persistent technical problems that have undermined confidence in the current approach. The Artemis II mission has been repeatedly delayed by hydrogen fuel leaks and helium pressurization blockage issues — the same categories of problems that affected Artemis I in 2022.

'When you are experiencing some of the same issues between launches, you probably got to take a close look at your process for remediation,' Isaacman acknowledged. The recurrence of identical failure modes across missions suggested systemic process problems rather than isolated incidents.

Beyond the rocket, the Artemis III landing had also faced readiness concerns on multiple fronts. SpaceX's Starship lunar lander and Blue Origin's competing system were both behind schedule, and development of the new moonwalking spacesuits had fallen behind timeline targets. The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel had recommended scaling back what it characterized as 'overly ambitious goals.'

Both of NASA's primary commercial partners for lunar landers voiced support for the revised approach. Blue Origin responded enthusiastically, stating simply: 'Let's go! We're all in!' SpaceX said it 'shares the same goal as NASA of returning to the Moon with a permanent presence as expeditiously and safely as possible.'

NASA has asked both companies to accelerate their lander development timelines under the restructured program, a request that suggests the agency views the current pace of commercial progress as insufficient for even the revised 2028 landing target.

The industry response contrasts with the more cautious tone from safety experts. The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel's earlier recommendation to scale back ambitions suggests a tension between the political imperative to achieve a high-profile lunar return and the engineering reality of a program that has struggled with basic reliability.

The Artemis restructuring takes place against a backdrop of intensifying international competition in lunar exploration. China's Chang'e program has achieved multiple successful robotic landings and is developing plans for crewed lunar missions in the late 2020s. India, Japan, and the European Space Agency all have active lunar programs.

Isaacman framed the overhaul as aligned with President Trump's lunar return objective and claimed congressional support: 'Everybody agrees this is the only way forward.' Kshatriya echoed the sentiment, insisting that 'this is not about slowing down momentum. This is about increasing it.'

Yet the practical effect is a further delay to a program that has already pushed its landing date back multiple times since its inception. The original target of landing astronauts on the moon by 2024 — set during the first Trump administration — has now slipped by at least four years. Whether standardizing the SLS and accelerating launch cadence can actually deliver two landings in 2028 remains an open question, particularly given the program's track record of optimistic scheduling.