What is Nasa’s Artemis III mission and will it go to the Moon?
The overarching ambition behind Artemis is to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon. Nasa’s Moon Base programme — unveiled in May 2026 by the agency’s administrator, Jared Isaacman — sets out three phases:
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Before 2029: robotic landers and hopping drones will survey the south polar region and deliver scientific instruments
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From 2029 onwards: repeated crewed missions will expand the site
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By the mid-2030s: Nasa envisages “semi-permanent” habitats with astronauts living on the Moon for extended stays
A working base would allow sustained scientific research, the testing of technology bound for future Mars missions, and the eventual extraction of lunar resources. It would also keep the United States ahead of China in a renewed space race.
Many in the field doubt that Nasa’s timetable can be met.
Experts are concerned about the slow pace of the development of SpaceX;s Starship lunar lander and the absence of any in-orbit refuelling tests.
But the biggest set back was on 28 May 2026, when Blue Origin’s only launch pad at Cape Canaveral was seriously damaged after a rocket exploded during an engine test.
Rebuilding the New Glenn launch pad is expected to take many months. When SpaceX lost a pad in 2016 it took 15 months to rebuild it — and SpaceX had other pads to fall back on.
Blue Origin does not, which calls into question the company’s ability to provide the Blue Moon Mk2 needed for one of the lunar landings.
“It would not surprise me at all if China gets [to the moon] first,” the Open University’s Dr Simeon Barber told the BBC. The limiting step, he said, was the lander — the most challenging piece of the mission’s technical architecture, and the one least under Nasa’s direct control.
