Three launches, one test: NASA keeps Artemis III for 2027 and a Moon landing in 2028

NASA is sticking to its timetable for returning to the Moon. At a news conference on Friday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the Artemis III mission remains on track to launch next summer, according to The Associated Press. The roughly two-week mission with four astronauts will stay in Earth orbit, where the Orion capsule is to practise docking with the lunar landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. AP said this requires three launches from Cape Canaveral in quick succession.

The first crewed Moon landing since Apollo 17 in 1972 remains planned for 2028 with Artemis IV. NASA wants to keep its choice of lander open for as long as possible and base it on development progress. According to Tech Insider, the agency also aims to fly its SLS heavy-lift rocket roughly every ten months instead of every three years. The boosters for Artemis III have already been stacked, according to a NASA post of Oct. 13. Artemis program manager Jeremy Parsons praised the pace at SpaceX: “We're seeing lots of hardware, lots of quick changes, and an absolute blistering pace of production.”

Isaacman linked the urgency to the race with China, which according to Newsweek aims to land people on the Moon before 2030. NASA is returning to a proven approach: “It's a playbook this agency knows really well, the same playbook that went from Apollo 7 splashdown to Apollo 11 in just nine months,” he said. The goal is more than a return visit: “This will not be a repeat of flags and footprints.” A Moon base is planned near the south pole. The agency stressed that safety would not be compromised, but said bureaucracy and decision-making would be streamlined.