NASA is heading back to the Moon, and this time it's bringing spreadsheets. The agency announced it has streamlined designs and overhauled the concepts of operations for its future crewed landers, built by Blue Origin and SpaceX, as it races toward a 2028 lunar landing and the establishment of a permanent Moon Base. Because nothing says "long-term presence on our closest celestial neighbor" like a contract realignment.
Since inking initial contracts with Blue Origin and SpaceX, NASA has redefined Artemis III to demonstrate rendezvous and docking capabilities between test versions of landers from each provider and the agency's Orion spacecraft in low Earth orbit next year. Meanwhile, both companies are also developing crew and cargo versions of their landers for near-term Artemis missions. Why do one thing when you can do several things simultaneously and on a deadline?
"We are executing President Trump's National Space Policy to complete the long-awaited return of American astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028 and establish a Moon Base," said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. "We have a proven foundation in SLS and Orion, along with two lunar landers in development with Blue Origin and SpaceX. But NASA has no intention of sitting idly by as all the pieces come together. That is not how Apollo succeeded, and it is not how the near-impossible is achieved. NASA is energized, our core capabilities are being rebuilt, our machine shops are running 24/7, and our experts are in the field attacking the critical path. We are building a Super Bowl-caliber team to safely achieve these objectives and everything that comes next." Nothing motivates like a sports metaphor and the implication that everyone else is slacking.
For the initial crewed missions, Artemis astronauts will launch in Orion atop the SLS rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During each mission, a commercial human landing system will link up with Orion before taking two crew members to the lunar surface while two remain aboard Orion. To accelerate development toward a 2028 landing, the landers and Orion will no longer rendezvous in a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon and will instead meet up in an orbit that differs for each partner, informed by their systems. Because consistency is overrated when you have two contractors with different ideas.
Both companies must perform an uncrewed demonstration mission with their crewed landers before the near-term Artemis crewed missions. NASA will certify lander systems prior to crewed missions to ensure safety and mission success - a sentence that should probably be printed on a plaque somewhere.
SpaceX continues to plan for an in-space propellant aggregation approach to transfer super cold, or cryogenic, liquid propellant in space. The company will launch multiple versions of Starship to low Earth orbit prior to the launch of the Starship Human Landing System (HLS) from Florida. Similar to a gas station on Earth, a series of propellant "tanker" Starships in low Earth orbit will transfer propellant to a waiting "depot" Starship, which will ultimately fuel the lander for its journey to the Moon. It's like a cosmic pit stop, minus the questionable hot dogs.
Under the revised operations, Starship HLS will await Orion and its crew in Earth orbit. The lander and Orion will rendezvous and dock in Earth orbit, then the Starship lander will perform a trans-lunar injection burn to send the combined stack to low lunar orbit. NASA is working to modify Orion to enable Starship to push it to the Moon. The lander will bring two crew members to the lunar surface for several days before delivering them back to Orion for the ride home. Propellant aggregation in low Earth orbit allows flexibility in crew launch timing on SLS, while the trans-lunar injection burn performed by Starship enables direct access to low lunar orbit. This new concept significantly lowers the amount of propellant Starship needs to aggregate in space while reducing the time it takes for astronauts leaving the Moon's surface in Starship to link back up with Orion. SpaceX will demonstrate the propellant aggregation approach during its uncrewed demonstration mission.
For its accelerated 2028 crewed lunar landing mission, Blue Origin will defer propellant transfer and use three transfer stages to send the Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha Lander to the Moon. Based on existing Mark 1 and Mark 2 hardware, the stages operate like a multistage rocket. They launch into low Earth orbit, followed by the Mark 2 lander. Once docked, the stack departs for an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon, with each transfer stage separating as its propellant depletes. Compared with the previously planned near-rectilinear halo orbit, the elliptical polar orbit offers faster returns from the lunar surface to Orion, reduces Blue Moon lander propellant requirements, and maximizes the performance available by SLS. This architecture provides multiple opportunities for SLS and Orion to launch the crew to elliptical polar orbit and dock with the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander. Two crew members then transfer to the lander and descend to the Moon's South Pole. After surface operations, the lander returns to Orion, where the crew transfers for the journey back to Earth. Blue Origin will incorporate lessons from earlier robotic Mark 1 missions supporting the agency's Moon Base Program and demonstrate the full mission profile in an uncrewed lander transfer stage demonstration mission.
Ultimately, based on lander readiness, NASA will determine which company will be first selected to safely deliver astronauts to the Moon's surface and back to lunar orbit in 2028. A second crewed landing opportunity will follow. No word on whether the winner gets a trophy or just the privilege of not being second.
NASA is targeting two approximately two-hour-long lunar surface Moonwalks during initial surface missions. Astronauts will use the Moonwalks to collect lunar samples and test capabilities of the spacesuit provided by Axiom Space. Two hours to justify decades of work and billions of dollars - sounds about right.
Earlier this year, NASA updated its contracts with Blue Origin and SpaceX for human landing systems and large cargo deliveries to the Moon. The updates align the agency's human landing system requirements with acceleration efforts announced earlier this year to streamline Artemis mission architecture, expedite a lunar return, and support an increased mission cadence to the Moon. Under the original HLS contracts, SpaceX's Starship HLS was assigned to Artemis III and IV, while Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 2 was slated for Artemis V. Under the realignments, both providers participate in Artemis III in low Earth orbit, and neither lander provider has been assigned to a specific Artemis lunar landing mission. Because why commit when you can keep your options open?
"NASA and our lunar lander providers Blue Origin and SpaceX have been working hand in hand to ensure we can return American astronauts to the Moon by 2028," said Jeremy Parsons, NASA's Artemis program manager. "While work to realign with our partners in support of architecture updates announced at Ignition Day in March has been underway since then, updating the contracts ensures NASA and its partners are on the same page with requirements and other milestones to ensure continued insight into lander development to support mission success and the safety of our Moon crews." Translation: we're all finally reading from the same document.
Both companies have added development milestones to provide NASA with more insight into lander development efforts, reducing risk and enhancing astronaut safety. SpaceX is adding two demonstrations of its crew cabin, called Cabin 1, for its Starship lander. Blue Origin is adding new human-in-the-loop testing and hardware readiness milestones to streamline training development as well as ground and flight operations. More milestones: the universal solution to everything.
As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions near the lunar South Pole to explore more of the Moon than ever before. In addition to providing economic benefits and advancing scientific discovery through its Moon missions, NASA will establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface and build on the agency's foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars. Because why stop at the Moon when you can promise Mars and a Golden Age in the same press release?