NASA changes rendezvous orbits with Orion and updates contracts for the Blue Origin and SpaceX lunar landers, aiming for 2028

NASA’s new announcement changes the picture: neither of the two lunar landers is now assigned to a specific landing mission. On Friday, October 23, the agency said that, together with Blue Origin and SpaceX, it had simplified the plans for the crewed landers (a lander is the vehicle that takes astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface) and changed the concept of operations of both. The details are in NASA’s announcement.

In the original contracts SpaceX’s Starship was assigned to Artemis III and IV and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 to Artemis V. After the contract update earlier this year, which also includes cargo deliveries to the Moon, both companies take part in Artemis III in low Earth orbit. The choice of company for the first landing in 2028 will depend on the readiness of the vehicles, with a second opportunity to follow. Artemis III in 2027 will test the docking of test landers with Orion, as we have covered in detail.

The companies are also adding new development milestones so NASA has a clearer view of progress. SpaceX will carry out two demonstrations of Starship’s Cabin 1 crew cabin, while Blue Origin adds human-in-the-loop tests and equipment readiness milestones. “The contract update ensures NASA and its partners have a shared picture of the requirements and the remaining milestones,” said Jeremy Parsons, Artemis programme manager.

A different rendezvous orbit

The meeting point with the Orion spacecraft also changes. Instead of the NRHO (near-rectilinear halo orbit) around the Moon, each company will have its own orbit, tailored to its vehicle. The basic scheme does not change: astronauts launch aboard Orion on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, two descend to the surface and two stay in Orion.

For SpaceX the new plan sends Orion and the lander directly to low lunar orbit. The Starship HLS (Human Landing System) will wait for Orion in Earth orbit and, once they have docked, will perform a trans-lunar injection burn that pushes the combined vehicle toward the Moon, while NASA modifies Orion so that it can be pushed by Starship. This needs considerably less propellant and shortens the time needed for the astronauts leaving the surface to reconnect with Orion. Two of them will go down to the Moon for several days. To fill the HLS tank, the company will launch several Starships to low Earth orbit before the Starship HLS launches from Florida: “tanker” Starships will carry cryogenic propellant, liquefied at very low temperature, to a “depot” Starship that will refuel the lander for the trip. Gathering propellant in low Earth orbit leaves flexibility in the launch time of the crew on SLS and will be tested in the uncrewed demonstration flight.

Blue Origin takes a different path: for the accelerated crewed landing of 2028 it postpones propellant transfer and sends the Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha to the Moon with three transfer stages. The stages are based on existing Mark 1 and Mark 2 hardware and work like a multi-stage rocket: they launch to low Earth orbit, the Mark 2 lander follows and, once connected, the stack departs for an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon, each stage separating when its propellant is spent. Compared with the earlier NRHO, the elliptical polar orbit allows a faster return from the surface to Orion, reduces the lander’s propellant needs and makes the most of the SLS’s performance. The architecture gives SLS and Orion several opportunities to carry the crew and dock with the Mark 2. Two astronauts move into the lander, descend to the lunar south pole and return to Orion after surface work. The company will use lessons from the first robotic Mark 1 missions for NASA’s Moon Base programme and will test the whole mission profile in an uncrewed demonstration flight.

Each company must first complete an uncrewed demonstration flight with its lander, and NASA will certify the systems before crewed missions. The first landings foresee two moonwalks of about two hours each, to collect samples and test the spacesuit supplied by Axiom Space.

“Our machine shops are running around the clock and our experts are in the field working on the critical path,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, linking the plan with President Trump’s National Space Policy for a 2028 Moon landing and a Moon Base.