With Gateway likely gone, where will lunar landers rendezvous with Orion?

March 7, 2026

So, here’s something that caught my attention — NASA’s Artemis plans just got a major shakeup. Jared Isaacman, the NASA boss, revealed last week they’re speeding up the launch schedule of the big SLS rocket and shifting focus to surface activities. But here’s the catch — what about the lunar landers? According to Eric Berger at Ars Technica, NASA’s contracting with SpaceX and Blue Origin to develop landers called Starship and Blue Moon MK2, which are crucial for getting astronauts to and from the Moon’s surface. Now, Isaacman says they’ll test these landers near Earth first, before the real lunar missions. And get this — without a dedicated gateway station in lunar orbit, the plan to rendezvous with Orion might be changing too. So, the big question is — where will these lunar landers connect with Orion now? As Berger points out, this reshuffle could impact the whole timeline and strategy for landing humans on the Moon later this decade. It’s a reminder that in space, the details matter just as much as the big ideas.

Last week, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman unveiled a major shakeup in the Artemis Program, intended to put the nation on a better path back to the Moon. The changes focused largely on increasing the launch cadence of NASA's large SLS rocket and putting a greater emphasis on lunar surface activities. Days later, the US Senate indicated that it broadly supported these plans.

This is all well and good, but it neglects a critical element of the Artemis program: a lander capable of taking astronauts down to the lunar surface from an orbit around the Moon and back up to rendezvous with Orion. NASA has contracted with SpaceX and Blue Origin to develop these landers, Starship and Blue Moon MK2, respectively.

As part of his announcement, Isaacman said a revamped Artemis III mission will now be used to test one or both of these landers near Earth before they are called upon to land humans on the Moon later this decade.

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