Nasa’s Isaacman shares Artemis IV update as SpaceX, Blue Origin plan Moon base

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman recently shared an update on the launch of Artemis III stating that the agency is on track for docking exercises with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin lunar lander next year. “It’s about our own history. It’s a playbook this agency knows really well, the same playbook that went from Apollo 7 splashdown to Apollo 11 in just nine months,” he said during a news conference at Kennedy Space Center. Isaacman said the “new space race” to land astronauts on the moon will be “much closer than it ever needed to be” because of slow going in past years. Isaacman’s update came six months after the successful Artemis II flight around the moon by four astronauts. According to a Fortune report, the agency plans to keep options open as long as possible before choosing between SpaceX and Blue Origin for the Artemis IV lunar lander that is scheduled for 2028.

NASA plans to launch moon base near the moon’s south pole — nowhere near Apollo’s more equatorial locales. Both agencies – Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will launch their landers next year for docking practice by the three NASA astronauts and one Italian who will blast into orbit aboard NASA’s Orion capsule. The mission will be completed with three launches in quick succession from Cape Canaveral. Orion will dock first with Blue Origin’s Blue Ghost about 270 miles (435 kilometers) above Earth, before docking with SpaceX’s Starship at a slightly lower altitude. “As a rocket nerd, it’s going to be pretty awesome,” said Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator. “It is incredibly ambitious,” Rubio told The Associated Press earlier this month. “One thing I’ve always believed and learned is don’t bet against America.”