NASA revises Moon landing plans for Starship and Blue Moon

Landing assignments depend on readiness

NASA says neither company now has an assignment to a specific Artemis lunar landing mission. Under the original contracts, SpaceX was assigned Artemis III and IV, while Blue Origin was assigned Artemis V. Both companies will instead participate in the Artemis III Earth-orbit demonstrations, and NASA will select the first lunar landing provider according to readiness. The agency targets that landing for 2028, with a second crewed landing opportunity to follow.

Both providers must complete an uncrewed demonstration mission before carrying astronauts to the Moon, and NASA must certify their landers. Revised contracts also add development checks: SpaceX will conduct two crew-cabin demonstrations, while Blue Origin will add tests involving human operators and milestones for hardware readiness. NASA describes these requirements as measures intended to reduce risk before crewed landings.

Starship would push Orion to the Moon

SpaceX plans to collect supercold liquid propellant in low Earth orbit. Tanker Starships would supply a depot spacecraft, which would then fuel the lunar lander. After docking with Orion in high Earth orbit, the lander would fire its engines to send both spacecraft toward low lunar orbit. NASA says it is working to modify Orion so Starship can push it to the Moon.

The four astronauts would travel inside Orion. Two would transfer to Starship for several days on the surface while two remained aboard Orion. NASA says using low lunar orbit would significantly reduce the propellant Starship must collect and shorten the time needed to return astronauts from the surface to Orion.

NASA officials declined to give a precise count on 23 October. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said six to eight launches was possible but represented Starship’s “ultimate potential end state.” The count depends on how much Starship can carry, how much supercold methane and liquid oxygen evaporate in orbit, and how efficiently spacecraft transfer those propellants.

Blue Moon would use three transfer stages

Blue Origin’s initial landing plan defers propellant transfer between spacecraft. Ars Technica reported that three New Glenn launches would place three transfer stages—propulsion units that push other spacecraft—into low Earth orbit, followed by a fourth launch carrying the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander.

NASA specifies that the stages would propel the Mark 2 Alpha lander toward an elliptical polar lunar orbit, an elongated path over the Moon’s poles. The chart described by Ars Technica placed the meeting orbit with Orion approximately 8,500 kilometers above the surface. Two astronauts would transfer to Blue Moon for a landing near the lunar south pole.

NASASpaceflight’s account describes two transfer stages separating on the journey to the Moon. The third would remain attached until after the crew transferred from Orion, then lower the lander into low lunar orbit before its final descent. NASA says the elliptical polar route would reduce Blue Moon’s propellant needs and allow faster returns from the surface to Orion compared with the previously planned halo orbit.

An extended upper stage could bring Orion closer

NASA is also developing the option of a low-lunar-orbit meeting with Blue Moon. According to Ars Technica, NASA is working with United Launch Alliance on an extended Centaur V upper stage—the rocket section that provides propulsion after the lower stage has done its work. Combined with the Space Launch System’s core stage, it would allow Orion to reach low lunar orbit.

Meeting a few hundred kilometers above the Moon would significantly reduce the propellant Blue Moon needs to carry astronauts down and back, NASA Artemis program manager Jeremy Parsons said. He said the lower orbit would also offer more frequent and faster opportunities to leave the surface if needed. This remains an option under development, separate from the specified elliptical polar meeting route.

Astronauts would enter Blue Moon, but not Starship

At its 23 October briefing, NASA retained a summer 2027 target for Artemis III and a 2028 launch target for Artemis IV, which would include a lunar landing. NASA’s official Artemis III plan describes a roughly 14-day mission in low Earth orbit involving four astronauts and test versions of both landers.

Orion would first dock with Blue Moon. Astronauts would enter the test vehicle and spend approximately two days evaluating its cabin, controls and life-support systems, including atmosphere and pressure. Blue Moon would launch first, with Orion following only after the lander was confirmed healthy and ready.

Orion would then dock with a Starship test vehicle for up to two hours, but astronauts would not enter Starship. That demonstration would assess how the docked spacecraft handle control, communications and software, as well as docking and undocking. NASA plans to use the two demonstrations to check hardware and procedures before attempting a crewed lunar landing.