NASA Adjusts Lander Designs for 2028 Lunar Return
NASA and its commercial human landing system providers, Blue Origin and SpaceX, have streamlined lander designs and altered mission profiles to return American astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028.
For the upcoming Artemis missions, NASA is adjusting how the Orion spacecraft and commercial landers rendezvous. The agency initially planned for Orion and the lunar landers to meet in a near-rectilinear halo orbit. Under updated operational plans, that concept has shifted to accommodate each partner’s specific systems. Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander concept of operations, as shared in agency charts, previously mapped Orion docking in an elliptical lunar orbit roughly 8,500 kilometers above the Moon’s surface.
NASA is now pursuing the option of docking with Orion in a low-lunar orbit just a few hundred kilometers above the surface. Jeremy Parsons, manager of the Artemis Program for NASA, explained that this lower altitude significantly reduces the propellant required for Blue Origin’s lander to descend to the surface and climb back up. That saved mass can be reallocated elsewhere on the vehicle. A lower orbit also provides faster and more frequent opportunities for astronauts to get off the lunar surface if needed.
Extended Centaur V Stage Enables Low-Lunar Orbit
Reaching low-lunar orbit requires solving propulsion and spacecraft integration challenges that remained unaddressed for years. Orion, equipped with its low-performing Service Module, traditionally lacked the delta-V capability to launch from Earth, reach low-lunar orbit, and return to Earth for a Pacific splashdown.
To overcome this limitation, NASA announced it is working with United Launch Alliance to develop an extended version of the Centaur V upper stage. Combined with the Space Launch System core stage, this upgraded upper stage will enable Orion to reach low-lunar orbit directly. Previously, NASA relied on workarounds like the Lunar Gateway in its near-rectilinear halo orbit, pushing the entire landing performance burden onto commercial lander developers.
NASA Redesigns Artemis Moon Landings With New SpaceX, Blue Origin and Orion PlansNASA is changing how astronauts will reach the Moon, with new mission plans involving SpaceX, Blue Origin and the Orion spacecraft.The central problem is Orion's propulsion capability. Its… pic.twitter.com/UyKkOvvIpY
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman emphasized that the agency is actively supporting its commercial partners to accelerate development. “We’re listening to the data, and looking at what’s happening around us,” Isaacman said, noting that helping lander developers reach the Moon safely is an operational priority.
Propellant Aggregation and Alternative Rendezvous Strategies
SpaceX is maintaining its strategy of in-space propellant aggregation for its Starship Human Landing System. The company plans to launch multiple Starship tanker vehicles into low Earth orbit to transfer cryogenic liquid propellant to a waiting depot Starship. That depot will subsequently fuel the Starship lander for its journey to the Moon.
Under revised operations detailed by NASA, Starship HLS will rendezvous and dock with Orion in Earth orbit rather than near the Moon. Following docking, the Starship lander will execute a trans-lunar injection burn to push the combined lander and Orion stack into low lunar orbit. This approach allows greater flexibility for crew launch timing on the Space Launch System.
Both Blue Origin and SpaceX are required to execute uncrewed demonstration missions with their respective crewed landers before flying Artemis astronauts. NASA will formally certify the lander systems prior to crewed flights. “We are executing President Trump’s National Space Policy to complete the long-awaited return of American astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028 and establish a Moon Base,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
NASA has officially rewritten its flight plan for returning to the Moon. In a major strategy shift announced by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, the agency introduced a revised "push" architecture where SpaceX's Starship will dock with the Orion capsule in high-Earth orbit and… pic.twitter.com/hBDQBI7D6E
NASA just spelled out the next big step back to the Moon. At a Friday news conference at Kennedy Space Center, the agency detailed Artemis III, a 2027 test flight that will keep four astronauts in low Earth orbit while Orion docks with test versions of Blue Origin's Blue Moon and… pic.twitter.com/f73U4hvGnO
