NASA announces changes to Artemis program amid Artemis II delays

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Amid ongoing delays with its Artemis II mission, NASA on Friday announced major changes to its Artemis program and plans to send astronauts to the moon.

During a briefing, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said that the agency would add another flight to the plan and standardize the Space Launch System rocket to reduce issues and increase launch frequency. 

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NASA to make big changes to Artemis program 

The Artemis II mission, which was previously planned as a crewed moon landing in 2028, will now be rescheduled and retooled.

The mission, now set for 2027, will include sending one or both lunar landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin into space. It will be used to test out systems in low orbit to prepare for a moon landing attempt with Artemis IV in 2028. 

NASA will also standardize the manufacturing of its Space Launch System rocket in an effort to accelerate launch frequency. 

“We want to reduce complexity to the greatest extent possible,” Isaacman said in the briefing. “We want to accelerate manufacturing, pull in the hardware and increase launch rate–which obviously has a direct safety consideration to it as well.”

Isaacman said launching more than every three years was an “imperative.”

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Artemis II mission delayed

The changes come amid another delay for the Artemis II mission, which is set to send a four-person crew on a trip around the moon. 

Earlier this week, NASA moved the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center back to the Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs. 

Teams have begun working to fix an issue with the rocket’s helium flow.

The issue was discovered over the weekend after NASA completed a wet dress rehearsal, which included a simulated launch countdown.

Prior to the issue, NASA had targeted a March 6 launch. Now the earliest window for launch is April 1.  

NASA’s crawler-transporter 2, carrying NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft, arrives Feb. 25, 2026, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to troubleshoot the flow

While the issue is fixed, the four astronauts set to take flight remain grounded. 

From left to right, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman stand outside before boarding their Orion spacecraft inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Sp

NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremey Hansen will travel in an Orion spacecraft on a 10-day journey around the moon.

The mission will be the first crewed mission to the moon in more than 50 years.