Artemis shifts toward contractors

NASA has recast Artemis so the next crewed mission after Artemis II centers on testing commercial moon landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin before any lunar landing attempt. (nasa.gov) NASA said on February 27 that Artemis III is now a 2027 low Earth orbit test flight, not the first crewed lunar landing. The agency said Artemis IV, planned for 2028, is now the mission aimed at landing astronauts on the Moon. (nasa.gov) That Artemis III test is supposed to practice rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial landers, run life-support, communications and propulsion checkouts, and test the new exploration spacesuits in space. NASA said it will define the final objectives after more reviews with industry partners. (nasa.gov) The commercial landers are now the hinge point in the plan. NASA’s human landing system program says SpaceX is developing the lander for Artemis III and Artemis IV, while Blue Origin is developing Blue Moon for Artemis V and later missions. (nasa.gov) NASA’s Office of Inspector General said on March 10 that the agency has obligated nearly $7 billion to lunar lander development since 2019 and projects more than $18 billion in spending through fiscal year 2030. The watchdog said NASA had controlled contract costs, but development problems “will delay planned Artemis launch dates.” (oig.nasa.gov) The White House’s fiscal year 2027 budget request sharpens that shift. It requests $8.5 billion for Artemis and says the budget fully funds lunar landers, spacesuits, lunar surface systems and astronaut transportation needed to land astronauts on the Moon by the end of 2028. (govinfo.gov) NASA’s own budget tables also show a long-range move toward commercial transportation for Moon missions. The request includes $4.2 billion in fiscal year 2027 for Moon and Mars transportation, with separate lines for Orion, the Space Launch System rocket, exploration ground systems and commercial Moon and Mars infrastructure and transportation. (nasa.gov) At the same time, NASA is still pressing ahead with the government-built hardware already on the pad. Artemis II’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft rolled to Launch Complex 39B on March 20, and NASA began the launch countdown on March 29 for the four-astronaut flight around the Moon. (nasa.gov; nasa.gov) Blue Origin’s role was formalized in May 2023, when NASA selected the company to build the Artemis V lander and said multiple providers would be available to compete for later lunar surface access work. That gave NASA a second supplier after the earlier SpaceX award and made competition part of the architecture instead of a backup plan. (nasa.gov) NASA says the revised architecture is meant to standardize missions, raise flight cadence and support at least one surface landing every year after 2028. Whether Artemis can hit that schedule now depends heavily on contractors delivering the landers and suits that the government rocket and capsule cannot replace. (nasa.gov; oig.nasa.gov)