NASA is set to give an update on its Artemis moon program on Friday, Oct. 23, during a press conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The event begins at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), and NASA is making it available to watch live.
The briefing, billed as "Artemis Acceleration," will feature three agency officials: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya and Jeremy Parsons, the Artemis program manager.
In an Oct. 14 media advisory, NASA said the update would cover Artemis III, a mission that will send four astronauts to low Earth orbit next year to test critical systems needed for future lunar landings. Officials will also discuss how plans to return American astronauts to the moon by 2028 are progressing.
Artemis III is currently targeted for mid-2027. Rather than traveling to the moon, the crew will test rendezvous and docking technologies between NASA's Orion capsule and one or both of the private spacecraft chosen as the program's crewed lunar landers: SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon.
If everything goes according to plan, Artemis IV will follow in early 2028 and put astronauts down near the lunar south pole. That would be the first crewed moon landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Which lander will fly on Artemis IV has not been settled. The decision depends on how development of each vehicle advances and on what happens during Artemis III.
NASA expects further landings beyond Artemis IV. The agency intends to build a moon base through the Artemis program, an effort that will require a range of both robotic and crewed missions.
The agency is also feeling a sense of urgency because China has similar lunar goals. Military and political officials have said it is important for the United States to win this new space race so it can help establish the norms of responsible behavior on the moon.
