America’s return to the moon: where things stand in 2026

Four astronauts head to the Moon this spring

NASA plans to launch Artemis II no earlier than March 6, 2026, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The 10-day mission will send four astronauts on a loop around the Moon and back, the first crewed trip beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The crew won’t land on the surface.

This flight tests the spacecraft and systems needed for future landings. It follows the uncrewed Artemis I test flight, which orbited the Moon in late 2022.

A hydrogen leak pushed back the launch

The mission was supposed to launch in February 2026.

But during a fuel test on Feb. 2, engineers found a liquid hydrogen leak where fuel enters the rocket’s core stage. NASA moved the launch to March to fix the problem and review the data.

Hydrogen leaks also delayed Artemis I, pushing that mission from March all the way to November 2022.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said safety comes first and that teams expected some bumps after three years between launches.

The crew makes history in several ways

Commander Reid Wiseman, a NASA astronaut and Navy pilot, will lead the mission. Pilot Victor Glover will become the first person of color to travel beyond low Earth orbit.

Mission specialist Christina Koch will become the first woman to make the trip.

And Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency will be the first non-American to fly that far from Earth. Jenni Gibbons serves as Hansen’s backup if he can’t fly.

How the spacecraft gets there and back

The Space Launch System rocket stands 32 stories tall and produces about 8.8 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. The Orion crew capsule, with roughly the cabin space of two minivans, will carry the astronauts.

The crew will fly a free-return path, looping behind the far side of the Moon. That route will take them farther from Earth than any humans have ever traveled.

Orion will reenter Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 25,000 mph before splashing down in the Pacific.

Heat shield problems caused years of delays

During Artemis I in 2022, Orion’s heat shield lost more protective material than expected during reentry. NASA spent months looking into it and found that gases couldn’t escape properly from the shield’s Avcoat material.

Rather than redesign the whole shield, engineers changed the reentry path for Artemis II to put less stress on the capsule. Problems with Orion’s life support system also needed fixes.

The mission was originally expected to fly as early as 2023.

The program has cost taxpayers nearly $100 billion

The NASA Inspector General projected the Artemis program would cost about $93 billion through fiscal year 2025.

By mid-2025, total spending had approached nearly $100 billion, with only one completed launch to show for it. Each SLS and Orion launch runs about $4.1 billion just for production and ground operations.

That doesn’t include the billions already spent developing the rocket and capsule. The Inspector General called the cost per launch “unsustainable” in testimony to Congress.

The White House tried to cancel the rocket

In May 2025, the Trump administration proposed cutting NASA’s budget by about 24%. The plan called for ending the SLS rocket and Orion capsule after just two more flights.

It also proposed canceling the Gateway, a small space station planned for lunar orbit. The White House said cheaper commercial rockets could handle future Moon missions instead.

The budget proposal noted SLS had gone about 140% over its original budget.

Congress stepped in to keep Artemis alive

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas led an amendment to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to restore NASA’s funding. President Trump signed the bill on July 4, 2025, and it included roughly $10 billion in extra NASA money.

That covered about $4.1 billion for SLS rockets for the Artemis IV and V missions. It also kept about $2.6 billion for the Gateway station and $20 million for a fourth Orion capsule.

Congress later passed a full 2026 budget that largely rejected the proposed cuts.

The Moon landing keeps slipping further out

Artemis III, the planned lunar landing mission, now targets no earlier than 2028. That date has slipped from an original target of 2024 to 2025, then 2026, then 2027, and now 2028.

The mission depends on SpaceX developing a lunar version of its Starship rocket to serve as the lander. A NASA safety panel said in 2025 that the Starship lander schedule faces major challenges and could run years late.

If it happens, two astronauts would spend about a week near the Moon’s south pole.

SpaceX still has big technical hurdles ahead

Before Starship can land anyone on the Moon, SpaceX must prove orbital refueling works.

That means at least 14 tanker flights to fill a fuel depot in space, and the company hasn’t yet completed a ship-to-ship fuel transfer test.

SpaceX’s own internal timeline, reported in late 2025, estimated the earliest crewed landing attempt in September 2028. NASA opened the landing contract to other companies in October 2025 because of SpaceX’s delays.

Blue Origin is also building a lunar lander for later missions.

China is racing to land astronauts by 2030

China is targeting a crewed Moon landing by 2030. The country has already landed robotic spacecraft on the Moon’s far side and brought lunar samples back to Earth.

China is now testing its Long March 10 rocket and Mengzhou crew capsule, with a first joint test mission planned for 2028 or 2029.

U.S. officials have said landing Americans on the Moon before China gets there is a priority. Both Congress and the White House have pointed to this competition as a key reason to keep funding Artemis.

NASA has big plans beyond Artemis III

Artemis IV is planned for late 2028 or 2029 and would deliver the first modules of the Gateway lunar station. Artemis V, planned for around 2030, would use the Gateway as a base to expand surface exploration.

NASA’s long-term goal is yearly Moon landings and eventually a permanent lunar base. The program is also meant to prepare for future crewed missions to Mars.

More than 50 nations have signed the Artemis Accords, agreeing to principles for peaceful exploration of the Moon.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• NASA’s $3 Billion Mars Mission Just Got Abandoned by Congress
• Congress Wants to Send You $600 From Tariff Money But the Numbers Dont Work
• Senate Passes $174B Spending Package — But ICE Shooting Throws DHS Funding Into Doubt