After Artemis II, NASA outlines plans for its return to the moon

Artemis II completed a 10-day lunar flyby and splashdown, and NASA says it will shift from an orbiting Gateway station to building a surface base with plans to land astronauts at the lunar south pole by early 2028.

NASA's Artemis II mission returned after a 10-day flyby and splashed down off the San Diego coast, marking the agency's first crewed lunar flight in more than 50 years. The agency's new administrator, Jared Isaacman, said he wants a much shorter gap before the next missions and emphasized a goal of landing astronauts on the lunar south pole by early 2028. In a policy shift, NASA announced it will drop plans for an orbiting Gateway station and instead focus resources on building a base on the lunar surface. The Artemis program is being reshaped around that surface-first approach and a stepped sequence of missions to test hardware and procedures. Key details: - Artemis III is scheduled for 2027 and will remain in near-Earth orbit to test docking between Orion and lunar landers. - Artemis IV is targeted for early 2028, with plans to send Orion to lunar orbit and a lander to take two astronauts to the south pole for roughly a week of surface science. - NASA has directed private contractors Blue Origin and SpaceX to build lunar landers, but neither company has yet tested a lander in space and a recent NASA audit noted delays and technical and integration challenges. - Orion experienced helium-valve leaks on Artemis II that led NASA to decide the propulsion system will need redesign for future missions; a redesigned heat shield for Orion has been built after damage seen on Artemis I, and initial Artemis II assessments found no unexpected reentry conditions. - Public engagement with Artemis II was strong: the lunar flyby became NASA's most viewed live YouTube broadcast with more than 27 million views, and launch and splashdown broadcasts ranked among the agency's top five. Summary: NASA is repositioning the Artemis program toward a surface base and aims to accelerate lunar landings, with orbital docking tests planned in 2027 and a surface landing targeted for early 2028. Several technical items remain unresolved, including final fixes to Orion's propulsion system and spaceflight tests of the commercial landers; delivery schedules for those elements are not fully determined at this time.