NASA Shifts Starship Rendezvous to Earth Orbit, Sets 2028 Artemis IV Landing
The agency detailed a revised mission architecture on Friday in which Orion docks with the Starship lander in high-Earth orbit rather than lunar orbit.
By Yasmin Duda ·
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Friday that the agency intends to land astronauts on the Moon as early as 2028, using a lengthy news conference to detail a revised Artemis architecture that moves the Orion-Starship rendezvous out of lunar orbit.
Under the new plan, Orion would dock with SpaceX's Starship lander in high-Earth orbit before both spacecraft continue toward the Moon. The change removes the requirement, sought by SpaceX engineers in meetings with NASA in early 2026, that the docking take place in a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon. That orbit demanded more energy and created other difficulties, and NASA's cancellation of the Lunar Gateway earlier this year eliminated the problem for SpaceX.
Blue Origin's architecture follows a different path. Its plan calls for four launches of the New Glenn rocket with no refueling of one spacecraft from another, and it leaves open the possibility that the Blue Moon lander could meet Orion in low-lunar orbit.
NASA said Artemis III remains scheduled for summer 2027 as a demonstration mission in which Orion docks near Earth with both Blue Moon and Starship. Artemis IV, which carries the actual lunar landing, stays targeted for 2028. Isaacman described the schedule as workable. "This is an achievable path we are on right now," he said. "We have the mandate, we have the resources, and the support from our stakeholders to be able to execute, and that's what we intend to do."
The agency said it reviewed each element of the Artemis program to help lander companies move faster. The remaining issue for NASA and its partners is whether the announced dates hold.
Friday's briefing marked the first time NASA laid out the revised approach in full and acknowledged publicly that the mission architecture had changed. Details of much of the shift had already been reported by Ars Technica and other outlets.
The Lunar Gateway cancellation earlier this year removed the orbit that had created the docking difficulties SpaceX engineers raised with NASA in early 2026.
Source: Ars Technica
