When is the next Moon landing?
Artemis facts as of September 28, 2026, sourced from NASA · robotic-lander dates as of 9 October 2026, as cited below
As of September 28, 2026, the next crewed Moon landing is NASA's Artemis IV, targeted for early 2028. It would be the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The date is a target and may move. A March 2026 NASA Office of Inspector General report found that SpaceX's lander would not be ready for the old June 2027 landing date, and that it was too early to judge whether proposals to speed up either lander could meet a 2028 landing date. At the time, SpaceX had yet to fly its ship-to-ship cryogenic propellant transfer test or an uncrewed lunar landing, and Blue Origin's crewed lander had not yet passed its critical design review.
Is Artemis III landing on the Moon?
No. NASA restructured the Artemis campaign: Artemis III was redesignated as a crewed low Earth orbit demonstration, and Artemis IV became the first crewed lunar landing of the program. NASA announced the renumbering on February 27, 2026. Artemis III is now a crewed demonstration in low Earth orbit, targeted for 2027 (as of September 28, 2026); Artemis IV carries the landing. NASA's announcement is the primary source.
The path to the landing
| Mission | Status |
|---|---|
| Artemis III | Announced: crewed low Earth orbit demonstration, targeted 2027 (as of September 28, 2026) |
| Artemis IV | Announced: first crewed lunar landing, targeted early 2028 (as of September 28, 2026) |
| Artemis V | Announced: lunar surface mission, anticipated by late 2028 (as of September 28, 2026); no crew or lander assigned |
Targets are NASA's current plan and can change; each mission page carries the announcement dates.
What about robotic Moon landings?
Robotic landers go to the Moon more often than people do, but the cadence is uneven and 2026 has been a quiet year. NASA's Moon Base programme manager, Carlos García-Galán, said on 15 September 2026 that Griffin was one of four landers NASA had planned to send to the lunar surface this year, that the other three have slipped to 2027, and that Griffin is on track to launch no earlier than November. China's Chang'e 7 was postponed out of its 2026 window in August. The last landing attempt azmth can point to is ispace's Resilience on 5 June 2025, which came down hard, and the last fully successful one was Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 at Mare Crisium on 2 March 2025. "The next Moon landing" usually refers to the next crewed landing, which is Artemis IV.
| Mission | Target (as of 9 October 2026) |
|---|---|
| Griffin-1 (Astrobotic, now part of Voyager Technologies) | No earlier than November 2026, landing at Mons Mouton, a high point near the lunar south pole; carries Astrolab’s FLIP rover; NASA has designated it Moon Base II; the only lunar launch NASA expects in 2026 |
| Blue Moon MK1 “Endurance” (Blue Origin) | First part of 2027 (NASA’s launch schedule lists January 2027); the mission is also being called Moon Base I; NASA and Blue Origin attribute the delay to the explosion of a New Glenn rocket on its Florida launch pad in May 2026 |
| Nova-C Trinity, IM-3 (Intuitive Machines) | First part of 2027, Reiner Gamma; Intuitive Machines’ chief executive Steve Altemus said on an August 2026 earnings call that it slips to the first quarter of 2027 |
| Blue Ghost Mission 2 (Firefly) | Later in 2027, lunar far side |
| Chang’e 7 (China) | Could not fly in its scheduled 2026 window (China Manned Space Engineering Office, 23 August 2026); no new Chinese date, partners say 2027 |
| Luna 27A and 27B (Roscosmos) | 2029 and 2030 (Lev Zelyony, Space Research Institute, August 2025) |
All of these dates are targets and may move. The four NASA deliveries are dated mainly from remarks by Carlos García-Galán, NASA's Moon Base programme manager, speaking at the Glenn Space Technology Symposium on 15 September 2026, as reported by Aerospace America. Two of the dates are also published by the parties themselves: Voyager's own 13 July 2026 release gives Griffin's no-earlier-than-November target, and NASA's launch schedule lists Blue Moon MK1 for January 2027. NASA's CP-12 delivery, which would have flown ispace-U.S.'s APEX 1.0 lander to Schrödinger Basin, was terminated by mutual agreement between NASA and Draper, announced on 15 July 2026, so it is no longer a candidate.
Sources
- NASA: mission renumbering announcement (February 27, 2026)
- NASA Office of Inspector General: Artemis schedule risk
- Aerospace America: Carlos García-Galán, NASA's Moon Base programme manager, on the 2026 and 2027 lunar launch schedule (15 September 2026)
- Astrobotic: Griffin-1 completes integration, scheduled to launch in late 2026 (15 June 2026)
- Astrobotic, now Voyager Lunar Systems: Griffin Mission One targeted to launch no earlier than November 2026 (13 July 2026)
- NASA launch schedule: Moon Base, Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 1, January 2027 (page updated 22 September 2026)
- SpaceNews: NASA and Draper terminate the CP-12 lunar lander task order (17 July 2026)
- ispace-U.S. and Draper: CP-12 task order ended by mutual agreement with NASA (15 July 2026)
- China Manned Space Engineering Office (in Chinese): Chang’e 7 does not meet launch conditions and cannot fly in this year’s scheduled window (23 August 2026)
- National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (in Thai): the Long March 5 launch carrying Chang’e 7 moves to 2027 (24 August 2026)
- International Lunar Observatory Association: ILO-C launch now scheduled for the first quarter of 2027 (page updated 14 September 2026)
- Interfax (in Russian): Lev Zelyony, Space Research Institute, on Luna 27A in 2029 and Luna 27B in 2030 (11 August 2025)
azmth is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.