NASA has streamlined the design and operational concepts for its future crewed lunar landers, working alongside commercial providers Blue Origin and SpaceX to accelerate development for the 2028 moon missions. The agency has redefined the objectives for the Artemis III mission to demonstrate rendezvous and docking capabilities between test versions of the landers and the Orion spacecraft in low Earth orbit next year.
Revised Operations for Artemis III
Under the updated architecture, Artemis astronauts will launch aboard the Orion spacecraft on a Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A commercial human landing system will then link up with Orion before taking two crew members to the lunar surface while two remain in orbit.
To expedite the timeline, the landers and Orion will no longer rendezvous in a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon. Instead, they will meet in an orbit tailored to each partner’s specific systems. Both companies must perform an uncrewed demonstration mission with their landers prior to near-term crewed missions. NASA will certify these lander systems to ensure safety and mission success.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman emphasized the urgency of the current effort. “We are executing President Trump’s National Space Policy to complete the long-awaited return of American astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028 and establish a Moon Base,” Isaacman said. “We have a proven foundation in SLS and Orion, along with two lunar landers in development with Blue Origin and SpaceX. But NASA has no intention of sitting idly by as all the pieces come together. That is not how Apollo succeeded, and it is not how the near-impossible is achieved. NASA is energized, our core capabilities are being rebuilt, our machine shops are running 24/7, and our experts are in the field attacking the critical path. We are building a Super Bowl-caliber team to safely achieve these objectives and everything that comes next.”
SpaceX Starship and Blue Origin Blue Moon Strategies
SpaceX plans to use an in-space propellant aggregation approach for its Starship Human Landing System. The company will launch multiple Starship versions to low Earth orbit before launching the HLS from Florida. Similar to a gas station on Earth, a series of propellant tanker Starships will transfer cryogenic liquid propellant to a waiting depot Starship. This depot will ultimately fuel the lander for its journey to the Moon.
Under the revised operations, the Starship HLS will await Orion in Earth orbit. The lander and Orion will rendezvous and dock, after which the Starship lander will perform a trans-lunar injection burn to send the combined stack to low lunar orbit. NASA is working to modify Orion to enable Starship to push it to the Moon. This approach allows for flexibility in crew launch timing on the SLS and reduces the amount of propellant Starship needs to aggregate in space.
Blue Origin will take a different approach for its accelerated 2028 mission. The company will defer propellant transfer and use three transfer stages to send the Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha Lander to the Moon. Based on existing Mark 1 and Mark 2 hardware, these stages operate like a multistage rocket. They will launch into low Earth orbit, followed by the Mark 2 lander. Once docked, the stack will depart for an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon, with each transfer stage separating as its propellant depletes.
This elliptical polar orbit offers faster returns from the lunar surface to Orion, reduces Blue Moon lander propellant requirements, and maximizes the performance available by SLS. Blue Origin will incorporate lessons from earlier robotic Mark 1 missions and demonstrate the full mission profile in an uncrewed lander transfer stage demonstration mission.
Contract Updates and Future Selections
Earlier this year, NASA updated its contracts with Blue Origin and SpaceX for human landing systems and large cargo deliveries. Under the original contracts, SpaceX’s Starship was assigned to Artemis III and IV, while Blue Origin’s Blue Moon was assigned to Artemis V. The realignments mean both providers are participating in the Artemis III mission in low Earth orbit, and neither has been assigned to a specific lunar landing mission.
Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager, stated that the contract updates ensure both parties are aligned on requirements and milestones. “NASA and our lunar lander providers Blue Origin and SpaceX have been working hand in hand to ensure we can return American astronauts to the Moon by 2028,” Parsons said. “While work to realign with our partners in support of architecture updates announced at Ignition Day in March has been underway since then, updating the contracts ensures NASA and its partners are on the same page with requirements and other milestones to ensure continued insight into lander development to support mission success and the safety of our Moon crews.”
Both companies have added development milestones to provide NASA with greater insight into their progress. SpaceX is adding two demonstrations of its crew cabin, called Cabin 1, for its Starship lander. Blue Origin is adding new human-in-the-loop testing and hardware readiness milestones to streamline training and operations.
Ultimately, NASA will determine which company is first selected to safely deliver astronauts to the Moon’s surface and back to lunar orbit in 2028 based on lander readiness. A second crewed landing opportunity will follow. Initial surface missions will target two approximately two-hour long lunar surface moonwalks to collect samples and test spacesuits provided by Axiom Space.
Source: NASA
