NASA is changing the sequence of its Artemis lunar program, postponing the first planned astronaut landing and reassigning missions to speed progress while lowering technical risk.
Under the revised plan, Artemis III will no longer attempt a lunar touchdown. Instead, the mission will stay in Earth orbit to practice rendezvous and docking operations with the program’s lunar landing system. Surface landings will be shifted to Artemis IV and Artemis V, which are slated to carry astronauts to the Moon using landers being developed by commercial partners SpaceX and Blue Origin.
The move follows repeated technical difficulties with NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. Artemis II—the crewed flight intended to carry four astronauts—remains grounded at Kennedy Space Center after engineers discovered problems with the SLS helium pressurization system and a liquid hydrogen leak. Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight in November 2022, encountered similar issues before launch, prompting leaders to reassess the agency’s processes.
“This is just not the right pathway forward,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said at a Kennedy Space Center news conference, noting the more-than-three-year gap between Artemis I and Artemis II and the pattern of recurring problems that demand a closer look at remediation practices.
NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya framed the adjustment as a way to regain momentum and concentrate on the most critical objectives. Agency officials said the revised approach borrows concepts from Apollo-era architecture, relying on staging and in-orbit operations to support future surface landings.
To support a faster cadence—Isaacman has expressed a goal of launching roughly every ten months—NASA plans to standardize the SLS configuration and limit changes to its upper stage starting in 2028. The agency also intends to grow its workforce, shift some contractor responsibilities to federal employees, and press SpaceX and Blue Origin to accelerate development of their lunar landers.
Meanwhile, teams rolled the Artemis II rocket and Orion capsule back into the Vehicle Assembly Building to address the helium pressurization issue. If troubleshooting goes smoothly, NASA could attempt a launch as early as April 1, though officials have not set an official target date.
Agency leaders said the restructured timeline aims to preserve momentum toward returning humans to the lunar surface by 2028 while reducing technical risk and improving operational consistency across Artemis missions.