NASA adds new Artemis moon missions in major overhaul of lunar program

NASA is adding another Artemis moon mission to its schedule even before Artemis 2 has a new date for launch. Here's the latest on the program.

NASA's ambitious Artemis lunar program is getting a major overhaul.

The U.S. space agency has announced plans to add additional missions as it works toward the lofty goal of landing astronauts on the moon once every year beginning as early as 2028.

The revelation comes as the U.S. space agency is preparing for Artemis 2, the first human spaceflight under its multibillion-dollar program. That mission, which will send three Americans and one Canadian on a 10-day trip around the moon, has faced a series of delays due to snags with NASA's mammoth Space Launch System rocket developed specifically for the lunar program.

The revamp to the Artemis campaign also comes amid a heated space race with China to return humans to the moon and construct permanent settlements on the largely unexplored lunar south pole. Ultimately, NASA has designs on using its lunar outposts to facilitate the first crewed expeditions to Mars.

"With credible competition from our greatest geopolitical adversary increasing by the day, we need to move faster, eliminate delays, and achieve our objectives,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement Friday, Feb. 27. “Standardizing vehicle configuration, increasing flight rate and progressing through objectives in a logical, phased approach, is how we achieved the near-impossible in 1969 and it is how we will do it again.”