Space News by Jeff Foust February 27, 2026
NASA announced major changes to its Artemis lunar architecture, adding a test flight of lunar landers in low Earth orbit while canceling planned upgrades to the Space Launch System.
At a Feb. 27 briefing, NASA said it would change the schedule of upcoming Artemis missions to add a flight in 2027 where Orion will rendezvous and dock with lunar landers from Blue Origin and/or SpaceX while in low Earth orbit. The mission would also test a new spacesuit being developed by Axiom Space.
That new mission will be named Artemis 3, which had been reserved for the first crewed lunar landing attempt. Under the new plan, the first lunar landing would be attempted on Artemis 4 in 2028, with the possibility of an Artemis 5 in late 2028.
The new Artemis 3 would be analogous to Apollo 9, a mission in early 1969 that was the first test of the Lunar Module in space, including docking tests in low Earth orbit.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the new mission would allow NASA to move at a faster rate as it faces competition from China, which is planning its first crewed lunar lander for around 2030.
“NASA must standardize its approach, increase flight rate safely and execute on the President’s national space policy,” he said in a statement. “With credible competition from our greatest geopolitical adversary increasing by the day, we need to move faster, eliminate delays and achieve our objectives.”
As part of those changes to increase flight rate, NASA said it was abandoning plans to upgrade the SLS after Artemis 3. The first three SLS launches use the Block 1 configuration, with the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) as the upper stage. Future SLS launches were to use the Block 1B version, with the larger Exploration Upper Stage.
The move to speed up SLS launches comes as both Blue Origin and SpaceX are working on plans to accelerate work on their Human Landing System landers for Artemis. Neither company, though, has released details about those revised development efforts, nor has NASA.
More:
https://spacenews.com/nasa-revises-plans-for-future-artemis-missions-cancels-upgrades-to-sls/
