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 for crewed missions to the Moon, the agency has redefined Artemis III to demonstrate rendezvous and docking capabilities between test versions of landers from each provider and the agency’s Orion spacecraft in low Earth orbit next year. In parallel, the companies are also developing crew and cargo versions of their landers for near-term Artemis missions.

“We are executing President Trump’s National Space Policy to complete the long-awaited return of American astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028 and establish a Moon Base,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “We have a proven foundation in SLS and Orion, along with two lunar landers in development with Blue Origin and SpaceX. But NASA has no intention of sitting idly by as all the pieces come together. That is not how Apollo succeeded, and it is not how the near-impossible is achieved. NASA is energized, our core capabilities are being rebuilt, our machine shops are running 24/7, and our experts are in the field attacking the critical path. We are building a Super Bowl-caliber team to safely achieve these objectives and everything that comes next.”

For the initial crewed missions to the Moon, Artemis astronauts will launch in the agency’s Orion spacecraft on top of the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. During each Artemis mission, a commercial human landings system will link up with Orion before taking two crew members to the lunar surface while two remain aboard Orion. To accelerate development toward a 2028 landing, the Artemis landers and Orion will no longer rendezvous in a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon and instead meet up in an orbit that differs for each partner, informed by their systems.

Both companies are required to perform an uncrewed demonstration mission with their crewed landers prior to the near-term Artemis crewed missions to the Moon. NASA will certify lander systems prior to the crewed missions to ensure safety and mission success.

Starship lander concept of operations

SpaceX continues to plan for an in-space propellant aggregation approach to transfer super cold, or cryogenic, liquid propellant in space. The company will launch multiple versions of Starship to low Earth orbit prior to the launch of the Starship Human Landing System (HLS) from Florida. Similar to a gas station on Earth, the series of propellant “tanker” Starships in low Earth orbit will transfer propellant to the waiting “depot” Starship. The depot Starship will ultimately fuel the Starship lander for its journey to the Moon.

Under the revised operations, Starship HLS will await Orion and its crew in Earth orbit. The lander and Orion will rendezvous and dock in Earth orbit, then the Starship lander will perform a trans-lunar injection burn to send the combined lander and Orion stack to low lunar orbit. NASA is working to modify Orion to enable Starship to push it to the Moon. The lander will bring two crew members to the lunar surface for several days before delivering them back to Orion for the ride back to Earth.

Propellant aggregation in low Earth orbit allows for flexibility in the crew launch timing on SLS, while a trans-lunar injection burn performed by the Starship lander will enable direct access to low lunar orbit. This new concept of operations using low lunar orbit will significantly lower the amount of propellant Starship needs to aggregate in space while reducing the amount of time it can take for astronauts leaving the Moon’s surface in Starship to link back up with Orion. SpaceX will demonstrate the propellant aggregation approach during the uncrewed demonstration mission.

Blue Moon lander concept of operations

For its accelerated 2028 crewed lunar landing mission, Blue Origin will defer propellant transfer and use three transfer stages to send the Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha Lander to the Moon. Based on existing Mark 1 and Mark 2 hardware, the stages operate like a multistage rocket. They launch into low Earth orbit, followed by the Mark 2 lander. Once docked, the stack departs for an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon, with each transfer stage separating as its propellant depletes. Compared with the previously planned near-rectilinear halo orbit, the elliptical polar orbit offers faster returns from the lunar surface to Orion, reduces Blue Moon lander propellant requirements, and maximizes the performance available by SLS.

This architecture provides multiple opportunities for SLS and Orion to launch the crew to elliptical polar orbit and dock with the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander. Two crew members then transfer to the lander and descend to the Moon’s South Pole. After surface operations, the lander returns to Orion, where the crew transfers for their journey back to Earth.

Blue Origin will incorporate lessons from earlier robotic Mark 1 missions supporting the agency’s Moon Base Program and demonstrate the full mission profile in an uncrewed lander transfer stage demonstration mission.

Returning American astronauts to the Moon

Ultimately, based on lander readiness, NASA will determine which company will be first selected to safely deliver astronauts to the Moon’s surface and back to lunar orbit in 2028. A second crewed landing opportunity will follow.

NASA is targeting two, approximately two-hour long lunar surface Moonwalks during initial surface missions. Astronauts will use the Moonwalks to collection lunar samples and test capabilities of the spacesuit provided by Axiom Space.

Earlier this year, NASA updated its contracts with Blue Origin and SpaceX for human landing systems and large cargo deliveries to the Moon. The updates align the agency’s human landing system requirements with acceleration efforts announced earlier this year to streamline Artemis mission architecture, expedite a lunar return, and support an increased mission cadence to the Moon.

Under the original HLS contracts, SpaceX’s Starship human landing system was assigned to the Artemis III and IV missions, while Blue Origin would use its Blue Moon Mark 2 human landing system for Artemis V. Under the contract realignments, both providers are participating in the Artemis III mission in low Earth orbit and neither lander provider has been assigned to a specific Artemis lunar landing mission.

“NASA and our lunar lander providers Blue Origin and SpaceX have been working hand in hand to ensure we can return American astronauts to the Moon by 2028,” said Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager.“While work to realign with our partners in support of architecture updates announced at Ignition Day in March has been underway since then, updating the contracts ensures NASA and its partners are on the same page with requirements and other milestones to ensure continued insight into lander development to support mission success and the safety of our Moon crews.”

Both Blue Origin and SpaceX have added development milestones to provide NASA with more insight into lander development efforts, reducing risk and enhancing astronaut safety in preparation for crewed Moon landings. SpaceX is adding two demonstrations of its crew cabin, called Cabin 1, for its Starship lander. Blue Origin is adding new human-in-the-loop testing and hardware readiness milestones to streamline training development as well as ground and flight operations.

As part of a Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions near the lunar South Pole to explore more of the Moon than ever before. In addition to providing economic benefits and advancing scientific discovery though its Moon missions, NASA will establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface and build on the agency’s foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.