--- title: "NASA Cancels Artemis 3 Moon Landing" description: "NASA has announced major changes to its Artemis program, revising its first planned landing attempt to take place in low-Earth orbit." date: "2026-02-27" modified: "2026-02-27" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/space/nasa-cancels-moon-landing-mission" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "NASA" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" --- # NASA Cancels Artemis 3 Moon Landing ![NASA has announced major changes to its Artemis program, revising its first planned landing attempt to take place in low-Earth orbit.]() *Miguel J Rodriguez Carrillo / AFP via Getty Images* In late 2017, president Donald Trump [signed]() the Space Policy Directive 1, a major policy shift to return the United States to the surface of the Moon. The signing took place on the 45th anniversary of Apollo 17, the final mission of NASA's Apollo program. In 2019, vice president Mike Pence [announced]() the plan was to accelerate NASA's efforts and land on the Moon by the year 2024. But 2024 came and went. Nine years on, the nation has taken some considerable steps closer, sending an uncrewed spacecraft [around the Moon and back]() as part of NASA's Artemis 1 mission in November 2022 — but it's still clearly years away from touching down on the Moon. That's no longer just speculation. NASA has [now announced]() major changes to its Artemis program that could mean we won't be attempting to land on the Moon until, at the very earliest, early 2028. Following [several delays]() to its follow-up Artemis 2 mission, which will see four astronauts travel around the Moon, NASA's leadership officially revealed that Artemis 3, originally envisioned as its first modern lunar landing attempt, will no longer attempt to touch down on the Moon's surface during a [Friday press conference](). It's perhaps the most significant reframing of NASA's and the Trump administration's flagship program of returning astronauts to the surface of the Moon, highlighting persistent issues plaguing the agency since the first Trump administration. It could also [highlight significant delays with SpaceX's efforts]() to develop a Starship-based lunar lander. The company was tapped by NASA to come up with a way to transport the crew from lunar orbit down to the surface. Instead, Artemis 3, now scheduled for "mid-2027," will serve as a test of docking with one or both of NASA's Human Landing Systems partners, SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander, in low-Earth orbit — not lunar orbit, as initially planned. NASA is also planning to use the opportunity to have astronauts test out their Moon suits while in orbit. Artemis 4 and 5, both lunar landing attempts, have been moved back to early and late 2028, respectively — and that's if everything goes according to plan. "We're not necessarily committed, but we want to have the opportunity" to make both attempts in 2028, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said during the press conference. In an initial statement during today's press conference, Isaacman said that a three-year launch cadence between Artemis 1 and 2 was simply too long, arguing that "skills atrophy" over that time period and that something needed to change. "We've got a lot of talented folks that have been working hard on the Artemis 2 campaign, and whether they will want to stick around for three more years after this mission is complete is a question mark," he said. "This is just not the right pathway forward." Isaacman argued that flying different configurations of NASA's extremely costly Space Launch System rocket for each mission didn't make sense. "A wide objective gap between missions is also not a pathway to success," he said. "They didn't go right to Apollo 11. We had a whole Mercury program, Gemini, Apollo... Lots of Apollo missions before we ultimately landed. "We need to chunk it into achievable objectives," Isaacman later explained, arguing that the agency needed to study the "incremental risks" to increase "reliability and standardization" over several missions. Meanwhile, NASA remains committed to launching Artemis 2 — which was initially scheduled to launch earlier this month — "in the weeks ahead," according to a [press release](). The rocket was [rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building]() at NASA's Kennedy Space Center earlier this week for further work following technical issues, including a helium leak that triggered launch delays. In a way, the 322-foot-tall orange and white rocket's retreat is symbolic of the space agency's reimagining of its Artemis program, a reining in of some extremely ambitious goals and timelines that ultimately turned out to be unrealistic. Instead, Isaacman's NASA is deciding to take one small step at a time, hopefully leading up to its long-awaited return to the Moon. **More on Artemis:** [*Experts Warn That There’s Something Wrong With the Moon Rocket NASA Is About to Launch With Astronauts Aboard*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()