Fly me to the Moon: NASA reshuffles the Artemis card deck

Artemis III now to follow in Apollo 9's footsteps, 2028 landing still planned for Artemis IV

NASA has reshuffled its Artemis program, pushing the first crewed lunar landing in more than half a century back to Artemis IV, with Artemis III performing a check-out of the lunar lander in Earth orbit.

The timeline remains aggressive. Artemis III is penciled in for 2027, Artemis IV for 2028. The mission change follows findings from a recent report by NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), which warned that Artemis III was trying to do too much at once.

The revised Artemis III mission reduces risk and means engineers can verify docking mechanisms, life support, communication, propulsion systems, and test the new Extravehicular Activity (xEVA) suits all from the relative safety of low Earth orbit rather than trying them out for the first time at the Moon.

NASA said: "This new mission will endeavor to include a rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin." The groundwork for this shift was laid in 2025, when ASAP flagged doubts about SpaceX's readiness and the Artemis III contract was reopened to competition. In January, Blue Origin announced it was pausing New Shepard tourist flights to accelerate its lunar lander development.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman cited a target launch cadence of every ten months, which could see a second lunar landing during Artemis V happen in 2028. The years-long gap between Space Launch System (SLS) launches is a contributing factor to the current woes facing Artemis II, which is back in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for inspection and repair following issues noted at the launchpad.

However, it comes with a catch. Burning through missions faster will exhaust NASA's stock of Space Shuttle Main Engines used by the SLS. Ahead of the Artemis I mission, Doug Bradley, the then RS-25 deputy program director at Aerojet Rocketdyne, told The Register: "We've got 16 total engines from the Shuttle program, so we can get to Artemis IV."

Going beyond requires new RS-25 engines, which are currently under development.

The Exploration Upper Stage (EUS), intended to boost SLS performance and replace the existing Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), is on the chopping block. It is unclear what will replace it, although United Launch Alliance's Centaur V is a likely candidate, judging by imagery posted by NASA. There is also no word on what this might mean for the Gateway space station.

NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said: "We want to keep testing like we fly and have flown. We are looking back to the wisdom of the folks that designed Apollo." It is worth remembering, though, that Apollo operated on a budget that dwarfs anything available to Artemis today.

Commercial partners are feeling the pressure too. The landing date hasn't moved, but numerous other spacecraft systems must be flight-ready by 2027 if the Artemis III mission goes ahead as planned.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), SpaceX wrote: "We look forward to working with NASA to fly missions that demonstrate valuable progress towards establishing a permanent, sustainable presence on the lunar surface."

Blue Origin was rather more succinct, posting: "Let's go! We're all in!" ®