Miss the Artemis news? Recapping the latest on NASA lunar campaign

NASA outlined a new plan for its Artemis lunar program that includes an extra mission before a moon landing as early as 2028.

NASA's path to returning astronauts to the moon is taking somewhat of a detour.

Under a plan unveiled at the end of February, the U.S. space agency outlined a fresh vision for its Artemis lunar program. Most prominently, that includes a brand new mission before the first lunar landing in more than 50 years – and the first of potentially two lunar landings in 2028 – is attempted.

What's more, NASA is working toward ramping up the launch cadence of the towering Space Launch System rocket specifically developed for its lunar program from once every three or so years to once every 10 months.

The shakeup is part of NASA's overhaul of its Artemis campaign as the space agency envisions launching more missions before and after a historic moon landing. So far, just one uncrewed Artemis mission, launched in 2022, has been completed since the program's conception nine years ago – though a mission known as Artemis 2 could be weeks away.

"Launching a lunar rocket every three years is not a strategy consistent with success," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a video posted Friday, Feb. 27 on social media site X. "This is by far the lowest launch cadence in the history of America's space program."