NASA postpones crewed lunar landing to 2028, adds new Artemis mission

NASA on Friday announced adjustments to its Artemis lunar exploration program, adding a mission ahead of its planned crewed moon landing and postponing the landing to 2028 from 2027.

Under the revised plan, the Artemis III mission will focus on testing systems and operational capabilities in low Earth orbit in 2027, in preparation for the Artemis IV lunar landing mission in 2028, NASA said in a news release.

The Artemis III mission is expected to include a rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial lunar landers being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin, in-space tests of the docked vehicles, integrated checkout of life support, communications, and propulsion systems, as well as tests of the new Extravehicular Activity suits, according to NASA.