NASA revises Artemis mission plans, cancels SLS upgrades
Posted: Sun, Mar 1, 2026, 12:09 PM ET (1709 GMT)
NASA announced Friday significant changes to its Artemis lunar exploration plans, adding a mission before a crewed landing and ending plans to upgrade the Space Launch System. NASA said that it is adding a mission in 2027 that will send a crewed SLS/Orion launch to low Earth orbit, where Orion will rendezvous or dock with lunar landers from Blue Origin and/or SpaceX. That mission, called Artemis 3, will take place before lunar landing attempts in early 2028, on Artemis 4, and perhaps late 2028 on Artemis 5. NASA also said it will end plans to upgrade SLS after Artemis 3 to a more powerful Block 1B version, settling instead on a "near Block 1" version.
NASA announced Friday significant changes to its Artemis lunar exploration plans, adding a mission before a crewed landing and ending plans to upgrade the Space Launch System. NASA said that it is adding a mission in 2027 that will send a crewed SLS/Orion launch to low Earth orbit, where Orion will rendezvous or dock with lunar landers from Blue Origin and/or SpaceX. That mission, called Artemis 3, will take place before lunar landing attempts in early 2028, on Artemis 4, and perhaps late 2028 on Artemis 5. NASA also said it will end plans to upgrade SLS after Artemis 3 to a more powerful Block 1B version, settling instead on a "near Block 1" version.
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