NASA shifts first crewed Artemis lunar landing to Artemis IV in 2028; Artemis III becomes 2027 Earth-orbit test

NASA has recast the next phase of its Artemis moon program, shifting Artemis III from the mission long expected to attempt the first crewed lunar landing into a 2027 test flight in Earth orbit and moving the first astronaut landing under the revised plan to Artemis IV in 2028.

The change, laid out at an Oct. 23 “Artemis Acceleration” briefing at Kennedy Space Center and summarized by NASA on Nov. 4, is more than a schedule update. It reshapes the sequence of missions, changes what Artemis III is meant to accomplish and adds new flexibility to the heavy rocket hardware NASA says it wants to use for the first landing attempt under the new architecture.

Under NASA’s plan, Artemis III would send four astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft launched by the Space Launch System, or SLS, on a 14-day mission in low-Earth orbit. Instead of heading to the moon, the crew would test rendezvous and docking operations with commercial lunar lander test articles in orbit around Earth.

NASA said the mission concept calls for docking tests with Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander test article and SpaceX’s Version 3 Starship lander test article. The agency described Artemis III as a crewed proving ground for the systems and procedures needed before attempting a lunar surface mission.

NASA now says Artemis IV is the mission targeted for the first crewed lunar landing in 2028. The agency said both of its commercial human landing system providers, SpaceX and Blue Origin, are targeting the capability to support a crewed lunar landing that year.

The revised plan also changes how NASA is thinking about the SLS rocket’s upper stage, the section that helps push Orion after launch. For Artemis IV, NASA said it is pursuing two options: the current Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, known as ICPS, and a stretched version of United Launch Alliance’s Centaur V. NASA said keeping both options in play is intended to avoid a single-point dependency.

NASA also pointed to what it described as faster internal hardware work. The agency said Artemis III hardware is “on track” and that processing timelines for some components have been cut roughly in half. As one example, NASA said it redesigned, built and tested a critical fuel-line component in-house in five months at about one-tenth the cost estimate previously quoted by an outside vendor.

Alongside the transportation changes, NASA said it is working with Axiom Space on a second, lighter “Sortie suit” for short lunar surface excursions. The suit would supplement, not replace, Axiom’s heavier primary lunar spacesuit.

The update marks a notable re-scoping of Artemis. Before NASA announced the new architecture, Artemis III had widely been understood as the mission that would carry astronauts to the lunar surface. Artemis II, a crewed lunar flyby, flew in April 2026 and returned safely on April 10; NASA is presenting the new sequence as the next step after that mission.

A March 2026 report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General had documented delays and technical challenges in development of the Human Landing System — the spacecraft meant to carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface — and said the agency was assessing ways to meet an accelerated 2028 landing goal.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in the agency’s Nov. 4 summary that the campaign “must move with urgency as strategic competitors pursue a permanent presence beyond Earth.”