NASA clarifies Artemis III tests and plans for a lunar return

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and other agency leaders presented an Artemis programme update on 23 October. It set out the sequence of future crewed missions and efforts to accelerate preparations for a return to the lunar surface.

Artemis III is intended to send four astronauts to low Earth orbit in 2027 to test systems required for later expeditions. That is not an announcement of an Artemis III landing on the Moon.

The updated sequence associates the first surface mission with Artemis IV and a 2028 target. These are agency plans dependent on hardware readiness and successful preceding tests.

The update clarifies mission names, test objectives and the programme’s eventual goal. No future crew launched or completed a lunar landing on 23 October: that day’s event was the programme briefing.

Primary source: https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/missions/2026/10/23/nasa-shares-artemis-acceleration-plans-for-moon-missions/.

NASA/Cory S Huston · Kennedy Space Center · 23.10.2026. NASA media guidelines.