NASA announced an overhaul of its ambitious Artemis lunar program on Friday morning, adding a new preparatory mission in 2027 that Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters was the “only way forward.”
The agency expects to launch the additional flight in 2027, carrying out tests of new commercial landers in low-Earth orbit.
And NASA is still planning its moon landing mission in 2028 – but now says there could be two landings that year.
Isaacman said the changes were aimed at getting the program “back to basics.”
“We didn’t go right to Apollo 11,” the commercial astronaut said at a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. “We had a whole Mercury Program, Gemini – lots of Apollo missions before we ultimately landed right.”
“Now, our program is essentially set up with an Apollo 8 and then going right to the moon. That is, again, not a pathway to success,” he added.
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