NASA announced this Friday, the 27th, that it added an extra lunar mission with astronauts from the Artemis program before attempting a high-risk lunar landing with a crew.
The shake-up of the flight schedule and push for a faster pace 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.
The Artemis II mission – a lunar flyby with four astronauts – has been postponed until at least April due to problems with the rocket.
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The next mission – Artemis III – aimed to land near the Moon’s south pole, carried out by another pair of astronauts, a year or two later. But with long gaps between flights and growing concern about the readiness of the lunar module and spacesuits for moonwalks, NASA’s new administrator, Jared Isaacman, announced that the mission would focus instead on launching a lunar module into orbit around Earth for docking training by astronauts from the Orion capsule in 2027.
The new plan calls for a Moon landing by astronauts in 2028. “This will be our path back to the Moon,” Isaacman said.
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The first test flight of the Artemis program was marred by hydrogen fuel leaks and helium flow problems ahead of an uncrewed launch in 2022, the same problems that plagued the Space Launch System rocket on the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center earlier this month.
Isaacman emphasized that “it should be blindingly obvious” that three years between flights is unacceptable and that he would like to reduce that gap to a year or even less.
During NASA’s legendary Apollo program, he said, the first astronaut flight to the Moon was followed by two more missions before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon. Furthermore, he said, the Apollo missions to the Moon occurred in quick succession, just like the previous projects, Mercury and Gemini, which also had rapid spaceflights, sometimes just a few months apart.
“No one here at NASA has forgotten the history books,” said Issacman. “We must not be complacent with the current pace. We must go back to basics and do what we know works.”
To speed up the process and reduce risks, NASA will standardize Space Launch System (SLS) lunar rockets going forward, Isaacman said.
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The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel this week recommended that NASA review its objectives for Artemis III, “given the demanding mission goals.” It is urgent that the space agency do this, the panel said, if the United States hopes to return astronauts to the Moon safely. Isaacman said the revised Artemis flight plan addresses the panel’s concerns and has the support of industry and the Trump administration.
