Fly me to the Moon: NASA reshuffles the Artemis card deck

NASA has reshuffled its Artemis program, pushing the first crewed lunar landing in more than half a century back to Artemis IV, with Artemis III performing a check-out of the lunar lander in Earth orbit.

The timeline remains aggressive. Artemis III is penciled in for 2027, Artemis IV for 2028. The mission change follows findings from a recent report by NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), which warned that Artemis III was trying to do too much at once.

The revised Artemis III mission reduces risk and means engineers can verify docking mechanisms, life support, communication, propulsion systems, and test the new Extravehicular Activity (xEVA) suits all from the relative safety of low Earth orbit rather than trying them out for the first time at the Moon.

NASA said: "This new mission will endeavor to include a rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and ...