NASA will halt plans to build a space station in lunar orbit and instead concentrate on constructing an approximately $20 billion (€17.25 billion) base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years.
New NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, sworn in December, announced the change at an all-day event at the agency’s Washington headquarters. He detailed a series of revisions to the Artemis II program, which has faced setbacks as the US, Russia and China vie to return humans to the moon.
After delays, NASA recently repositioned its Space Launch System rocket at Kennedy Space Center as it prepares for the first crewed Artemis II flight around the moon, possibly as soon as early April.
The paused project, the Lunar Gateway—largely built by contractors Northrop Grumman and Lanteris Space Systems—was intended to orbit the moon and serve as a staging point for landers. Isaacman said pausing Gateway in its current form “should not really surprise anyone” and that the agency will focus on infrastructure to support sustained surface operations. He added that hardware and partner commitments can be repurposed to support surface objectives.
Isaacman said the core Artemis II goal—a return to the moon’s surface by 2028—remains, but flight plans will be adjusted to include a test mission before a landing to build crew and team “muscle memory.”
Renewed urgency to return to the moon comes as China pursues its own lunar program, aiming for a landing around 2030, and as China and Russia promote plans for a nuclear power plant at the moon’s south pole and an International Lunar Research Station by 2036. The US frames a lunar return as a step toward eventual crewed Mars missions.
Isaacman, a 43-year-old entrepreneur with ties to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, said equipment and international commitments could support surface priorities. Musk has shifted public emphasis from Mars to the moon in recent months, promoting ambitions like a “Moon City” within a decade, though his earlier projections for crewed Mars missions by 2030 have drawn skepticism given pending uncrewed tests and launch windows.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
