NASA revises Artemis moon program, adds preparatory mission before 2028 landing

By Asiye Latife Yilmaz

ISTANBUL (AA) - NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced Friday a major revision to the agency's Artemis moon program, saying that the planned 2028 crewed lunar landing is unlikely without an additional preparatory mission to ensure readiness.

Isaacman said NASA will add an additional mission in 2027, during which astronauts will dock with new commercial moon landers in low-Earth orbit to test navigation, communications, propulsion and life-support systems, and to confirm rendezvous procedures.

That mission will be followed by at least one, and possibly two, lunar landing missions in 2028, which will apply lessons learned from the earlier flight.

The aim is to speed up launches of the massive Space Launch System rocket by conducting Artemis missions in gradual, step-by-step phases, avoiding operations that depend on multiple untested technologies and procedures simultaneously, according to CBS News.

"We're going to get there in steps, continue to take down risk as we learn more and we roll that information into subsequent designs," Isaacman told CBS News. "We've got to get back to basics."

The announcement also followed a critical NASA safety panel report warning that current plans were too risky.