Artemis III delays could threaten landing on the moon in 2028

NASA's Artemis III mission is about three months behind schedule, administrator Jared Isaacman says, putting pressure on the agency's plan to launch two moon-landing missions in 2028.

In a wide-ranging email to employees on Sunday, Isaacman said Artemis III could launch in the summer of 2027, preserving two opportunities for lunar landings the following year. But that's the "best-case scenario."

NASA doesn't plan to put astronauts on the moon during Artemis III. The agency redesigned the mission earlier this year as a crewed flight in Earth orbit, wherein astronauts would rehearse docking the Orion spacecraft with lunar landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. The test is intended to practice those crucial space maneuvers close to home and reduce risk before the first Artemis moon landing.

The 90-day delay represents a meaningful setback for an agency that has spent this year trying to accelerate the Artemis campaign, leveraging the momentum of the successful Artemis II flight around the moon. It also comes as Isaacman frames the agency's return to the surface as a broader competition with China. That makes NASA's current pace more consequential than a typical schedule slip.

"Perpetuating the status quo is not an achievable strategy in this race," Isaacman said. "There is simply too much on the line."

The disclosure of the schedule tension reveals how much ground NASA needs to make up if it wants Artemis IV and V, the first two landing missions of the program, to launch in 2028. If Artemis III continues to lag, NASA might be looking at just one shot to put boots on the moon in late 2028, Isaacman said in the email, published online Monday by NASA Watch, former NASA employee Keith Cowing's blog. NASA has since confirmed the email's authenticity to Mashable. 

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The Artemis III astronauts meet an Orion spacecraft mockup at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston at the beginning of their mission training in June. Credit: NASA / Bill Stafford

NASA announced an overhaul to the Artemis architecture in February, wedging this 2027 mission in between Artemis II's lunar flyby and the first crewed landing. Since then, the agency has announced the Artemis III astronauts: Commander Randy Bresnik, Andre Douglas, Frank Rubio, and European pilot Luca Parmitano. 

That major redesign has meant sidelining a complicated project to build an orbiting lunar space station, called Gateway, that would have served as both a lab and pit stop for lunar missions. NASA has since pivoted to building a moon base on the surface instead. 

The base is expected to sit at the lunar south pole, a region about the size of Virginia. The area is coveted for its deep, shadowed craters that may hold ancient ice and other frozen material. If NASA can learn to harness those resources for water and fuel, astronauts could avoid needing constant resupplies from Earth and become more self-sufficient.

"Had we stayed the course with Gateway, China was positioned to advance landers equipped with rovers and hopper drones, drone capabilities we ourselves did not have in development until recently, and potentially deny access to the most desirable locations on the surface," Isaacman said. 

But the new schedule has exposed friction across the program. NASA is working directly with suppliers and subcontractors to get delayed components, including valves and parts used to steer the rocket, back on track, Isaacman said. It's even making some hardware itself to accelerate production.

In Sunday's message, the administrator reiterated that the moon campaign isn't about merely getting there and planting another U.S. flag in the moondust. 

"We are making sure that when America returns to the Moon, we can actually stay," he said.