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After Artemis II, NASA looks to SpaceX, Blue Origin for Moon landings

April 11, 2026 5 min read Science & Technology GS Paper 3 (Science & Technology Space) GS Paper 2 (International Relations)
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What Happened

  • With Artemis II's successful crew return on April 10, 2026, NASA's attention immediately shifted to the next challenge: getting astronauts from lunar orbit down to the lunar surface — a capability that NASA does not own itself but has contracted to two US commercial companies: SpaceX and Blue Origin.
  • SpaceX's Starship (Human Landing System variant) and Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 2 lander are the two competing — and now parallel — systems NASA has selected to ferry astronauts between the Orion capsule in lunar orbit and the Moon's surface, with SpaceX assigned to Artemis III and IV, and Blue Origin to Artemis V.
  • NASA restructured the Artemis III mission in February 2026: rather than landing on the Moon immediately after Artemis II, the revised Artemis III (now targeted for mid-2027) will be a crewed test in low Earth orbit where astronauts will dock Orion with the landers, test their life support, propulsion, and communication systems, and evaluate the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) spacesuits designed for lunar surface operations.
  • The urgency of this programme is amplified by China's progress toward its own crewed lunar landing by 2030, raising concerns within the Trump administration that the US could lose its dominant position in space if delays persist.

Static Topic Bridges

NASA's Human Landing System (HLS) Programme

The Human Landing System programme is NASA's approach to procuring commercially developed crewed lunar landers for the Artemis missions. Rather than designing and building a government-owned lander (as was done for Apollo's Lunar Module), NASA issued competitive contracts to private companies under its NextSTEP (Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships) framework, adopting a model similar to its Commercial Crew Programme for ISS transportation.

  • NASA initially selected SpaceX in April 2021 (sole-source), triggering protests from Blue Origin and Dynetics; following legal proceedings, NASA added Blue Origin as a second vendor in May 2023.
  • SpaceX's Starship HLS: An adapted variant of the Starship upper stage, designed to operate in a vacuum (no atmospheric flight on the Moon), using liquid methane and liquid oxygen propellant. It must be refuelled in Earth orbit using tanker Starships before making the journey to the Moon.
  • Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 2: A dedicated lunar lander using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant; Jeff Bezos personally committed $2 billion to keep Blue Origin competitive after losing the initial HLS contract.
  • Mission assignments: SpaceX HLS for Artemis III and IV; Blue Origin's Blue Moon for Artemis V (with one uncrewed demo landing before the crewed mission in 2029).

Connection to this news: Post-Artemis II, the critical path to the Moon's surface runs through Starship HLS and Blue Moon — not through anything NASA itself is building, making the commercial landers the most consequential near-term milestones in the entire Artemis programme.

SpaceX Starship: Technical and Policy Significance

Starship is the fully reusable super heavy-lift launch system developed by SpaceX, consisting of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage. It is the largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built or flown, with a design goal of full and rapid reusability to radically reduce launch costs. NASA's HLS variant is a specialised version that cannot take off from Earth's surface — it is designed exclusively for operations in space and on the lunar surface.

  • Propellant: Liquid methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen (LOx) — chosen for potential in-situ production on Mars (where CO2 and water ice can be synthesised into methane and oxygen).
  • Thrust: Super Heavy booster produces approximately 16.7 million pounds (74 meganewtons) of thrust from 33 Raptor engines — roughly twice the SLS's 8.8 million pounds.
  • Starship HLS challenge: Requires multiple on-orbit refuelling missions (up to 8–10 tanker flights) to fill the lander in Earth orbit before it can proceed to the Moon — an unprecedented and technically demanding operation.
  • Regulatory significance: Each Starship launch requires FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) launch licence; environmental impact assessments for Boca Chica, Texas launch site.

Connection to this news: SpaceX's Starship HLS is the linchpin of Artemis III — if Starship's on-orbit refuelling demonstration is not validated in time, the crewed lunar landing will slip further, widening the window during which China could potentially match US lunar capabilities.

China's Lunar Programme and the Strategic Stakes

China's crewed lunar programme, operated by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) in coordination with CNSA, has set a publicly declared target of landing two astronauts on the Moon by 2030. This is backed by a comprehensive robotic programme (Chang'e series) that has already demonstrated sample return from the far side (Chang'e 6, 2024) and is building toward south pole resource assessment (Chang'e 7, 2026) and in-situ resource utilisation testing (Chang'e 8, 2028). The crewed mission will use the Mengzhou spacecraft (roughly analogous to Orion) and the Lanyue lander, launched on the new Long March 10 super heavy-lift rocket.

  • China's lunar south pole ambitions directly overlap with NASA's Artemis landing zone targets — both programmes want to access permanently shadowed craters containing water ice.
  • Water ice significance: Can be electrolysed into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket propellant (enabling in-situ resource utilisation, or ISRU) and for life support — making the south pole a strategic resource zone.
  • China plans a permanent lunar base by 2035 using a China-Russia collaborative framework, as an alternative to the US-led Artemis coalition.
  • The Outer Space Treaty (1967) does not grant territorial sovereignty on celestial bodies, but first-presence and operational norms could create de facto advantages in resource access.

Connection to this news: The competitive pressure from China's 2030 crewed landing target is a core driver of the Trump administration's accelerated Artemis timeline and its decision to double down on commercial partnerships rather than waiting for government-developed systems.

Key Facts & Data

  • Artemis III (revised, February 2026): Low Earth orbit crewed test of HLS docking, life support, communications, and AxEMU spacesuits; targeted mid-2027.
  • First actual crewed Moon landing: Now expected with Artemis IV or later — timeline dependent on Starship HLS readiness.
  • SpaceX HLS assignment: Artemis III and IV.
  • Blue Origin Blue Moon assignment: Artemis V (2029), with one uncrewed demo required first.
  • NASA Gateway programme: Paused indefinitely in March 2026 to focus resources on south pole surface base with up to 30 robotic landings from 2027.
  • China crewed Moon landing target: 2030, using Mengzhou + Lanyue on Long March 10.
  • Chang'e 7 (south pole resource survey): Planned 2026; Chang'e 8 (ISRU test): Planned 2028.
  • China permanent lunar base target: 2035, with Russia as partner.
  • Artemis Accords members (January 2026): 61 countries; China and Russia are not members.