NASA has announced a major overhaul of its Artemis lunar program: the Artemis 3 mission, initially intended to return astronauts to the lunar surface, will no longer include a lunar landing. The stated objective, however, remains unchanged: to return Americans to the Moon in 2028.
The head of the American space agency, Jared Isaacman, explained that to meet this deadline, NASA would modify the mission sequence and add new ones. Artemis 3, now moved up to mid-2027, will serve as a test mission in Earth orbit rather than an attempt at a lunar landing.
Tests in orbit before returning to the lunar surface
The new Artemis 3 mission plans a rendezvous in Earth orbit between the Orion capsule and "one or two" lunar landers. Two companies are currently competing for these spacecraft: SpaceX, with its Starship HLS, and Blue Origin, with the Blue Moon module.
Until now, SpaceX was expected to carry out missions 3 and 4 with its lunar module, while Blue Origin was to be involved from missions 5 and 6 onwards. The announced reorganization could reshuffle the cards and revive the competition for the first moon landing of the program.
The mission should also allow for testing the new lunar suits developed by Axiom Space, which have also faced delays. An extravehicular activity (EVA) is planned as part of this testing.
Staying on course for 2028
Jared Isaacman assured that this redesign was not directly related to the postponement of Artemis 2, now scheduled for April due to helium leaks. This mission is to send four astronauts around the Moon aboard Orion, marking the return of humans to deep space for the first time since the end of the Apollo program.
The capsule's very high-speed return will be one of the critical aspects of this flight. During Artemis 1, an uncrewed test mission, Orion's heat shield degraded more rapidly than expected, contributing to the accumulated delays.
With this new strategy, NASA aims to increase the number of intermediate steps and the frequency of launches, in a spirit similar to that of the Apollo program. The stakes are also geopolitical: China plans to send a taikonaut to the Moon by 2030. For Washington, the goal is to avoid losing what is being presented as a "second race to the Moon," after the one in the 1960s.
