The moon. Photo: Shutterstock

NASA made a major change to its plan for Artemis missions on Friday, announcing a new Artemis III mission in which a crew capsule will dock with a lunar lander built by either SpaceX or Blue Origin. In addition, NASA also ditched plans for an upgraded version of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. 

This new Artemis III mission is planned for 2027. NASA said its mission goals will include in-space tests of the docked vehicles, integrated checkout of life support, communications, and propulsion systems, as well as tests of new spacesuits. 

Both SpaceX and Blue Origin have contracts with NASA to develop Human Landing Systems. 

NASA affirmed it still plans to land on the Moon in 2028, in a mission that will now be called Artemis IV. 

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman framed the changes as an effort to standardize the approach and increase flight rate safety. Isaacman recently called out Boeing and former agency leadership for failures related to the Starliner test flight, classifying it as a “Type A Mishap.” 

“With credible competition from our greatest geopolitical adversary increasing by the day, we need to move faster, eliminate delays, and achieve our objectives,” Isaacman said in a Friday release. “Standardizing vehicle configuration, increasing flight rate and progressing through objectives in a logical, phased approach, is how we achieved the near-impossible in 1969 and it is how we will do it again.”

In terms of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, NASA will no longer target an upgraded version of the rocket, in favor of using a configuration closer to the current configuration. 

“It is needlessly complicated to alter the configuration of the SLS and Orion stack to undertake subsequent Artemis missions,” said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya. “There is too much learning left on the table and too much development and production risk in front of us. Instead, we want to keep testing like we fly and have flown.” 

This update came as NASA is preparing for Artemis II which will fly on the SLS rocket. The mission has been delayed due to issues with SLS that are now under repair with a new target for an April launch.  

The competition between SpaceX and Blue Origin to land on the Moon has been heating up, with SpaceX recently ditching its longtime, urgent focus on reaching Mars in favor of “building a self-growing city on the Moon.” 

In October, NASA’s former Acting Administrator Sean Duffy called SpaceX out for delays. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman later pointed to the benefits of the competition. 

“I don’t think it was lost on either one of those organizations that the first company that is capable of delivering a lander to take American astronauts to the lunar surface and back is the one that this nation is going to go with,” Isaacman said. “I think that competition is fantastic. The best thing for SpaceX is Blue Origin right on their heels — and vice versa.”