NASA Outlines Path to Returning Americans to the Moon by 2028

According to NASA News Releases, on October 23, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and other agency leaders presented the agency's roadmap for bringing Americans back to the Moon in 2028. The leadership provided updates on the accelerated plans for the Artemis program, referencing the Artemis III test flight in 2027 and the Artemis IV Moon landing mission in 2028. NASA leadership communicated significant progress across its missions, collaborating with industry partners to test essential capabilities, mitigate risks, and establish a lasting American presence on the Moon.

Isaacman stated that NASA is currently highly energized and that the updates shared represent only a small portion of that state, emphasizing that the agency is focusing intensely on ensuring the delivery of world-changing results in a manner that is quick, safe, affordable, and successful. He noted that NASA is driving outcomes to make Moon missions a reality and is not waiting for others to present their plans, asserting that the campaign must proceed with urgency as strategic competitors pursue a permanent presence beyond Earth.

The agency detailed the Artemis III mission, which is intended to test rendezvous, docking, and operations between NASA’s Orion spacecraft and lunar lander test vehicles provided by SpaceX and Blue Origin while in Earth orbit. Four astronauts are scheduled to travel aboard Orion, which will be launched on NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, for a planned 14-day mission in Earth orbit to reduce risk before the Artemis IV moon landing mission.

The sequence for the Artemis III mission involves Blue Origin launching a Blue Moon lander test article into Earth orbit, followed by SLS launching Orion and its crew, which will then dock with the Blue Moon lander test article. Subsequently, SpaceX will launch a Version 3 Starship lander test article while Orion undocks from Blue Moon and docks with Starship.

These October 23 updates followed other recent announcements regarding the Artemis missions. Hardware for Artemis III is reportedly on track, with processing timelines reduced by approximately half. Furthermore, NASA designed, constructed, and tested a vital fuel-line component internally within five months, achieving a cost roughly one-tenth of an earlier estimate from an outside vendor. Jeremy Parsons, the agency’s Artemis program manager, commented that NASA should be expected to perform such work, citing the agency's world-class technical knowledge in rocket hardware and operations, which exemplifies the rebuilding of core competencies and the development of technical centers of excellence rather than continuing to outsource expertise.

Regarding Artemis IV, the agency plans for astronauts to launch aboard Orion on the SLS rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 2028. NASA is collaborating with SpaceX and Blue Origin to develop lunar landers capable of transporting those astronauts to the Moon's surface. Both companies have reportedly revised their approaches to simplify and enhance the efficiency and flexibility of the missions compared to prior designs.

SpaceX’s Starship is anticipated to refuel in Earth orbit, rendezvous with Orion, and then transport the spacecraft toward the Moon. Blue Origin’s method involves using transfer stages in Earth orbit to propel its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander toward the Moon, where it will meet Orion in a nearer lunar orbit before descending to the surface. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin are aiming to be capable of supporting a crewed lunar landing in 2028.

For Artemis IV, NASA is considering two upper-stage options for the SLS rocket: its current stage, the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, and an extended version of ULA’s Centaur V that can carry more propellant. Pursuing both options is intended to maintain flexibility for NASA and prevent reliance on a single point of failure.

NASA also announced plans with spacesuit provider Axiom Space to create a second, lighter suit design termed the “Sortie suit” to facilitate the initial moonwalk activities. The Sortie suit will not replace Axiom’s primary suit, which is designated for longer, more demanding missions in the future. The Sortie suit weighs about half as much as the larger suit, allowing NASA to advance more quickly on the earliest surface missions.

As part of what is described as a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA intends to send Artemis astronauts on increasingly challenging missions at the lunar South Pole to explore more of the Moon than previously possible. In addition to providing economic benefits and advancing scientific discovery through its Moon missions, NASA plans to establish a lasting human presence on the lunar surface and build upon its foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.