Artemis programme
NASA · Moon
NASA's return to the Moon. Artemis II flew a crewed lunar flyby in April 2026; Artemis III is now planned as a low Earth orbit lander demonstration in 2027.
At a glance
- Phase
- development
- Operator
- NASA
- Destination
- Moon
- Next milestone
- Artemis III, scheduled for 2027, a demonstration mission in low Earth orbit to test one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin
- Last verified
- 2026-08-07
Where it stands
Artemis II crewed lunar flyby is complete (splashdown 10 April 2026); NASA now targets Artemis III in 2027 as a low Earth orbit lander demonstration and early 2028 for the first Artemis landing on Artemis IV. The Artemis III Orion crew and service modules were mated at Kennedy on 30 July 2026, with all four RS-25 engines for its SLS delivered on 21 July.
The mission
NASA's Artemis II mission launched on 1 April 2026 and returned on 10 April 2026, a crewed lunar flyby lasting 9 days, 1 hour and 32 minutes, the first crewed flight of NASA's deep space systems. NASA's own overview now describes a restructured plan: Artemis III, scheduled for 2027, becomes a low Earth orbit demonstration of one or both commercial landers, while Artemis IV carries the first crewed lunar landing, targeted for early 2028. Artemis V is expected by late 2028, with missions roughly annual thereafter.
