Many MindedNASA sets 2028 for Artemis IV landing, with two rival landers in contention
NASA has published an accelerated Artemis plan that aims to put astronauts on the Moon in 2028. Administrator Jared Isaacman and other agency leaders laid it out at a briefing on October 23. The plan splits the work in two. Artemis III, a test flight planned for 2027, would not land. Artemis IV would make the landing in 2028.
Artemis III would carry four astronauts on Orion, launched by the SLS rocket, on a planned 14-day mission in Earth orbit. The crew would practice rendezvous and docking with test landers from both companies. Blue Origin would launch its Blue Moon test lander first and Orion would dock with it. SpaceX would then launch a Version 3 Starship test vehicle, and Orion would dock with that too. For Artemis IV, Starship would be refueled with propellant in Earth orbit before meeting Orion. Blue Moon Mark 2 would use extra propulsion stages in Earth orbit, then meet Orion in a relatively low lunar orbit before descending.
Why it matters for abundance: keeping two landers in the running gives NASA a competitive setup, and competition is the main route by which the cost of reaching the Moon could fall over time. NASA also says it is rebuilding in-house skills. As one example, it says engineers redesigned, built and tested a fuel-line component in five months at roughly one-tenth of an outside vendor's earlier estimate.
The caveats are significant. The 2028 landing is a target, not a demonstrated capability. NASA has not chosen between SpaceX and Blue Origin for Artemis IV, and the choice depends on continued development and testing. NASA is also still weighing two SLS upper stage options. The progress and savings claims come from NASA's own release and are not independently verified. The source text is also cut off partway through its upper-stage section.
Source: ScienceDaily