NASA updates moon lander plans to target 2028 astronaut landing with SpaceX and Blue Origin
NASA announced updated contracts and revised designs for its commercial lunar landers, aiming to return American astronauts to the Moon surface in 2028. The agency has reshaped its strategy with SpaceX and Blue Origin to accelerate progress toward this deadline. Instead of meeting in a lunar halo orbit, crew capsules and landers will dock in different orbits designed around each company's hardware. Next year, Artemis III will test rendezvous and docking capabilities between test landers and the Orion spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Neither company currently holds an exclusive assignment for the first crewed landing; NASA will choose between SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon based on which lander is ready first. For ordinary readers, this strategy shift changes how humans will travel to the lunar surface while creating direct competition between two aerospace companies to put astronauts back on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo program.
What was announced
NASA modified its contracts with SpaceX and Blue Origin to speed up human landings on the Moon by 2028. The agency reshaped the Artemis III mission to conduct low Earth orbit docking tests next year instead of attempting an immediate lunar landing.
Both lander designs feature revised flight plans. SpaceX will rendezvous its Starship lander with the Orion spacecraft in low Earth orbit before executing a push burn to send both vehicles into low lunar orbit. This approach lowers the amount of cryogenic propellant SpaceX must aggregate in Earth orbit. Blue Origin will use a three-stage transfer system to send its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander into an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon, where it will link up with Orion.
Neither SpaceX nor Blue Origin is assigned to a specific lunar landing mission under the updated contracts. NASA will evaluate readiness closer to 2028 before choosing which provider carries the first crew down to the lunar South Pole. During initial surface visits, astronauts will perform two two-hour walks to test Axiom Space spacesuits and collect samples.
What it means
NASA is willing to alter orbital mechanics and mission profiles to hit its 2028 lunar deadline. By dropping the requirement for landers and Orion to meet in a near-rectilinear halo orbit, NASA gave both commercial providers simplified pathways based on their specific technical capabilities.
The plan also sets up a direct race between SpaceX and Blue Origin. With both companies now testing docking procedures in low Earth orbit next year, NASA maintains flexibility. If one lander suffers development delays, the agency can proceed with the other without revising the broader Artemis flight architecture.
What the announcement does not tell us
The announcement does not state the total financial cost of these contract modifications or whether additional funding is required from Congress. It does not explain how Orion will be modified to withstand being pushed to the Moon by SpaceX's Starship lander. NASA also leaves out specific calendar dates for the uncrewed test flights that both SpaceX and Blue Origin must complete before carrying astronauts.
How this was written
This analysis was written with AI from the official announcement below, using only facts that announcement states. The quoted wording is NASA News Releases’s own. Always check the original before acting on anything here.
As NASA returns humans to the lunar surface and establishes a long-term presence on our closest celestial neighbor, the agency and commercial human landing system providers Blue Origin and SpaceX have streamlined the designs and changed both concepts of operations for its future crewed landers. Since NASA established initial contracts with Blue Origin and SpaceX […]
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