NASA has unveiled a new plan as Artemis 2 prepares for take-off
NASA has unveiled a new plan as Artemis 2 prepares for take-off
Antonio Scancariello and Olivia Bridge Reporter in Live News Network
14:56, 25 Mar 2026
Artemis II – Nasa’s mission to the moon
NASA has announces it is scrapped its previous plans for a space station to orbit the Moon for a permanent base on the surface instead. The £16 billion plan comes just days before a historic mission is set to take place.
The announcement, made on Tuesday, reveals NASA has changed its lunar exploration strategy, building the permanent base on the surface of the Moon with robotic landers and a fleet of drones, reports The Express.
This shift from a space station to a moon base aims to significantly expand humanity’s presence in space, as the US tries to establish a lunar foothold before China sends its own astronauts there by approximately 2030.
The new project comes just days before the launch of the Artemis 2 mission, which will be the first to carry humans on a lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972.
NASA is aiming to launch Artemis 2 for its first attempt at 6.24pm Eastern Daylight Time on April 1, 11.24pm in the UK. The mission includes a 10-day crewed flight sending four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft, which serves as the exploration vehicle.
Artemis 2’s voyage comes with serious risks as the crew will fly in a spacecraft never used by humans before, and there will be personal challenges: the astronauts will spend 10 days cramped together in a spacecraft the size of a minibus.
This 10-day mission aims to send the crew past the moon and around its far side before returning directly to Earth, testing life-support and other critical systems, and is also intended to pave the way for future lunar landings.
The mission was originally scheduled for February, but it was postponed when a helium leak was discovered and NASA abandoned a launch attempt.
Back in January, Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said: “For the first time in more than 50 years, these individuals – the Artemis 2 crew – will be the first humans to fly to the vicinity of the Moon. Among the crew are the first woman, first person of color, and first Canadian on a lunar mission, and all four astronauts will represent the best of humanity as they explore for the benefit of all.”
The astronauts joining the mission are Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch, and Mission specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen.
Central to the Artemis programme is its astronaut lunar lander plan, with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin both racing to develop moon landers for NASA.
The two companies, each targeting an initial crewed landing on the moon in 2028, have fallen behind schedule.
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