NASA Adds Lunar Lander Docking Demo In LEO, Cancels SLS Upgrades

CAPE CANAVERAL—NASA is revising its Artemis lunar exploration initiative with a new mission to dock one or both human lunar landing systems with a crewed Orion spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO) ahead of landing astronauts on the Moon.

NASA also is scrapping plans for heavier-lift Space Launch System (SLS) rockets in an effort to streamline operations and improve the launcher’s flight rate.

“Launching a rocket as important and complex as SLS every three years is not a path to success … Your skills atrophy. You lose muscle memory,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told reporters Feb. 27.

NASA wants to reduce the time between SLS flights to 10-12 months. The upcoming Artemis II mission is intended to test the Lockheed Martin-built Orion spacecraft with crew for the first time. If it flies as planned in April, Artemis II would launch 3 1/2 years after the November-December 2022 uncrewed Artemis I flight test.

Following Artemis II, NASA now plans a revised Artemis III, which will be a technology demonstration in LEO targeted for mid-2027. Like the incremental steps taken before the Apollo Moon landing in 1969, NASA aims to reduce risks ahead of landing astronauts on the lunar surface on Artemis IV.

The revised Artemis III mission is expected to include a crewed Orion spacecraft rendezvousing and docking in LEO with one or both of the Human Landing Systems (HLS) in development by SpaceX and Blue Origin. That flight may also include tests of an Axiom Space-provided spacesuit, although no spacewalks are planned.

NASA previously had been planning to land crew on the Moon’s surface and conduct moonwalks on Artemis III, targeted for 2028.

A lunar landing in 2028, now on Artemis IV, remains the goal, and NASA is hopeful it also could launch Artemis V on a second crewed lunar landing later that year.

The agency also plans to cancel the SLS Block 1B and Block 2 upgrades, which include a four-engine Exploration Upper Stage to replace the single-engine ICPS on the SLS Block 1 that is being prepared for its second flight.

“After successful completion of the Artemis I flight test, the upcoming Artemis II flight test, and the new, more robust test approach to Artemis III, it is needlessly complicated to alter the configuration of the SLS and Orion stack to undertake subsequent Artemis missions,” NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya said in a statement.

“There is too much learning left on the table and too much development and production risk in front of us. Instead, we want to keep testing like we fly and have flown,” Kshatriya added. “We are looking back to the wisdom of the folks that designed Apollo. The entire sequence of Artemis flights needs to represent a step-by-step buildup of capability, with each step bringing us closer to our ability to perform the landing missions. Each step needs to be big enough to make progress, but not so big that we take unnecessary risk given previous learnings.”

The SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II were returned to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Feb. 25 to repair an issue with the helium pressurization and purge system aboard the rocket’s upper stage, known as the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS.) The mission is intended to become the first crewed flight beyond LEO since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The agency would fly one more ICPS, provided by United Launch Alliance (ULA), and then transition—beginning with Artemis IV—to a new upper stage, details of which have yet to be determined. ULA currently produces the liquid-hydrogen- (LH2) and liquid-oxygen- (LOX) powered Centaur V upper stage for its Vulcan rockets, and Blue Origin manufactures a variant of its LH2-LOX BE-3 upper stage for the New Glenn booster. The SLS core and ICPS upper stage are both fueled by LH2 and LOX.

“We’re announcing a standardization of the SLS essentially near the Block 1 configuration,” Isaacman said. “The idea is we want to reduce complexity … We want to accelerate manufacturing … and increase launch rate, which obviously has a direct safety consideration to it as well. You get into a good rhythm, launch [with] greater frequency, and you get that muscle memory.”

He declined to discuss specifics of how, when and from whom NASA would acquire a new upper stage for SLS. “We’ve been discussing this strategy with industry for several weeks now,” Isaacman said. “We have confidence in our ability to source and integrate a more standardized second stage to fulfill missions beyond Artemis III.”

How the changes in the Artemis program will impact the agency’s planned lunar-orbiting Gateway outpost also are to be determined.

Isaacman said NASA’s Artemis contractors and members of Congress have been briefed on the new architecture and are supportive. “NASA has had plans like this for a long time,” Isaacman said. “Everybody agrees this is the only way forward.”

NASA plans to pay for the HLS LEO demonstration flight with funds allocated under the 2025 budget reconciliation legislation, now known as the Working Families Tax Cut Act, formerly the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The HLS demonstration in LEO will not necessarily require SpaceX and/or Blue Origin to include on-orbit propellant transfers, which is part of the architecture for lunar landings. “We are very early in mission design,” Isaacman said. “We all have arrived at the point that this is really the only pathway in order to achieve success with the lunar landing within the time frames that we are targeting.”

In a statement, Lockheed President Robert Lightfoot, formerly with NASA, said, “We’re excited about Administrator Isaacman’s bold decision to increase the Artemis launch cadence. This is a clear demonstration of NASA’s unwavering commitment to accelerate our return to the Moon. This intentional and strategic move not only drives toward operational momentum but also establishes a predictable path for exploration—building the foundation for a sustainable lunar presence. Flight-proven systems like Orion will be essential to the future of Artemis, and we are fully committed to meeting the delivery timelines for these historic missions.”

In a separate statement from SLS prime contractor Boeing, Steve Parker, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said, “Boeing is a proud partner to the Artemis mission and our team is honored to contribute to NASA’s vision for American space leadership.

“The SLS core stage remains the world’s most powerful rocket stage, and the only one that can carry American astronauts directly to the Moon and beyond in a single launch,” Parker said. “As NASA lays out an accelerated launch schedule, our workforce and supply chain are prepared to meet the increased production needs.”