News: NASA Overhauls Artemis Moon Program — First Landing Pushed to 2028 as Agency Confronts 'Skills Atrophy'
NASA has announced a sweeping overhaul of its Artemis program, scrapping plans for a crewed moon landing on the Artemis III mission and instead targeting Artemis IV as the first human return to the lunar surface in over half a century. The restructuring, announced on February 27, 2026, represents the most significant reconfiguration of America's lunar ambitions since the program's inception. Under the revised timeline, Artemis III — originally planned as the historic first moon landing — will instead serve as a technology demonstration mission in low-Earth orbit, practicing rendezvous and docking maneuvers with the lunar landing system. The actual landing has been pushed to Artemis IV, now targeted for 2028. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman described the changes as a necessary 'course correction' after more than three years elapsed between the program's first and second flights. The overhaul comes amid persistent technical problems that have plagued the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, including recurring hydrogen fuel leaks and helium pressurization issues that have delayed the Artemis II crewed flyby mission — now targeted for at least April 2026. The restructuring has received support from both SpaceX and Blue Origin, the two companies developing competing lunar landers for the program.