NASA overhauls its Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon

NASA said Friday it’s adding an extra moon mission by Artemis astronauts before attempting a high-risk lunar landing with a crew.

The shakeup in the flight lineup came just two days after NASA’s new moon rocket returned to its hangar for more repairs and a safety panel warned the space agency to scale back its overly ambitious goals for humanity’s first lunar landing in more than half a century.

Artemis II — a lunar fly-around by four astronauts — is off until at least April because of rocket problems.

The follow-up mission — Artemis III — had been targeting a landing near the moon’s south pole by another pair of astronauts a year or two later. But with concern growing over the readiness of a lunar lander and moonwalking suits and long gaps between flights, NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman announced that mission would instead focus on launching a lunar lander into orbit around Earth for practice in 2027.

The new plan calls for a moon landing — potentially even two moon landings — by astronauts in 2028.

Isaacman stressed that three years between flights is unacceptable and that he’d like to get it down to one year or even less. During NASA’s storied Apollo program, he said, astronauts’ first flight to the moon was followed by two more missions before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel recommended this week that NASA revise its objectives for Artemis III “given the demanding mission goals.” It’s urgent the space agency do that, the panel said, if the United States hopes to safely return astronauts to the moon.

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