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NASA keeps 2028 moon landing date, speeds base work, Isaacman says
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Friday that Artemis IV remains scheduled for 2028, Artemis III will practice docking in Earth orbit next summer, and south-pole cargo flights toward a moon base are due to start by year's end, The Associated Press reported.
Based on reporting by The Seattle Times
Wire reporting: (AP, via The Seattle Times)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Friday that Artemis IV, the first planned U.S. crewed moon landing since Apollo, remains scheduled for 2028, The Associated Press reported from Kennedy Space Center1.
Isaacman said Artemis III is still set for next summer as a two-week Earth-orbit flight for four astronauts, with no lunar trip, to practice docking NASA's Orion capsule with SpaceX and Blue Origin landers, according to AP (via The Seattle Times and CityNews Toronto)1. Officials said NASA will wait as long as it can before choosing which company flies the Artemis IV lander1.
The briefing came about six months after Artemis II circled the moon, AP said1. Isaacman said a contest with China to land astronauts had grown closer than it needed to because of past delays, and that NASA is cutting meetings and adding staff while contractors work to the dates1. He compared the pace to Apollo from 1968 through 19721.
Both landers are to launch next summer for that docking practice, requiring three Cape Canaveral launches in short order, AP said: Orion would meet Blue Origin's Blue Ghost about 270 miles (435 kilometers) up, then SpaceX's Starship in a slightly lower orbit1. A south-pole moon-base campaign should see its first launch by year's end, including a second try by a Pittsburgh company whose 2024 landing attempt failed, with more cargo so a rover could be waiting for the first Artemis moonwalkers1.
The first moonwalkers would use a lighter, simpler suit than the Axiom Space design for later trips; Axiom is to test the shorter-sortie suits on the International Space Station next year, AP said1. Artemis III crew member Frank Rubio told AP earlier this month that a lasting presence is harder than Apollo-style visits1.