Mission

Artemis IV

NASA's first crewed Moon landing of the Artemis program, planned for 2028.

Artemis IV is the mission with which NASA plans to return astronauts to the surface of the Moon.[1] NASA's first crewed Moon landing under the Artemis program is to take place in 2028.[2]

The plan

The crew is to launch aboard the Orion spacecraft on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, then transfer from Orion to a commercial human landing system that carries them down to the lunar surface.[2] Using a standardized version of SLS, NASA expects to launch this landing mission in 2028 and to keep a pace of one mission a year after that.[2]

The landing systems are being developed by Blue Origin and SpaceX, and test versions are to be docked with Orion in Earth orbit on Artemis III first.[2]

The wider program

Under Artemis, NASA plans increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon, for science and for the experience needed for the first crewed missions to Mars.[2] The program began with crewed flight on Artemis II in April 2026.[2] In 2020, NASA and other nations also established the Artemis Accords, a common set of principles for the civil exploration and use of space.[2]

Milestones

  1. In 2028 expected
    Crewed Moon landing

Dates marked expected are agency estimates.

All missions and what each does next

Sources

  1. [1]NASA, Artemis III — nasa.gov, retrieved October 26, 2026
  2. [2]NASA, Artemis — nasa.gov, retrieved October 26, 2026

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