2026-02-27T10:08:00-0500 / CBS新闻
新上任的NASA局长贾里德·艾萨克曼周五宣布对该机构的阿尔忒弥斯探月计划进行重大调整，承认如果不先进行另一次准备任务来奠定基础，2028年将宇航员送上月球的计划并不现实。
他表示，NASA现在将在2027年增加一次飞行任务，在近地轨道测试新的商业着陆器，然后在2028年至少发射一次，可能两次月球着陆任务。
目标是加快巨型太空发射系统（SLS）火箭的发射节奏，同时分阶段执行阿尔忒弥斯飞行任务——而不是一次性尝试依赖太多未经测试的技术和程序的任务。
“我们将分步骤推进，随着我们了解更多信息并将这些信息纳入后续设计，继续降低风险，”艾萨克曼告诉CBS新闻，”我们必须回归基础。”
艾萨克曼在接受CBS新闻太空专栏作家克里斯蒂安·达文波特采访时概述了这一计划，并在周五的新闻发布会上再次阐述。
这一决定是在NASA独立的航空航天安全咨询委员会发布措辞严厉的报告后做出的，该报告认为现有计划风险过高。
同时，NASA正努力推进推迟已久的阿尔忒弥斯二号任务，该任务计划将四名宇航员送往绕月飞行。
原计划于2月初发射，但因氢泄漏问题推迟，最近又因火箭上面级的氦加压问题需要工程师解决。发射至少推迟到4月1日。
2026年2月25日，NASA阿尔忒弥斯二号太空发射系统（SLS）火箭从发射台被运回肯尼迪航天中心的车辆装配大楼。保罗·亨尼西/阿纳多卢通讯社通过盖蒂图片社
艾萨克曼表示，原计划2028年在月球南极附近着陆的阿尔忒弥斯三号任务现在将重新定义和重新安排——2027年发射但不直接登月。相反，尚未命名的宇航员将与一个或两个由埃隆·马斯克的SpaceX和杰夫·贝佐斯的蓝色起源公司正在开发的商业月球着陆器在更靠近地球的轨道上会合和对接。
其理念是在尝试载人登月之前获得宝贵的近期飞行经验。完成阿尔忒弥斯三号任务后，NASA希望在2028年使用一个或两个着陆器发射阿尔忒弥斯四号和五号两次登月任务，并此后每年继续一次探月行动。
“什么能帮助我们登上月球？当然，与一个或理想情况下两个着陆器进行会合和对接，这让我们有机会对明年将依靠其将宇航员送抵月球表面的飞行器进行综合测试，”艾萨克曼告诉CBS新闻。
修订后的阿尔忒弥斯三号任务还将让宇航员有机会测试未来登月者将使用的新宇航服。
“这是一个机会……即使我们不穿着宇航服出舱，也能在微重力环境下测试宇航服。你能从中获得很多有益的学习，”艾萨克曼说。
阿尔忒弥斯三号任务在地球轨道进行一次或两次着陆器对接的概念与阿波罗9号类似，1969年阿波罗9号将指令舱和着陆器送入地球轨道进行飞行测试，为四个月后的阿波罗11号登月铺平了道路。
艾萨克曼表示，SpaceX和蓝色起源都”希望按照现有协议进行无人着陆演示”。
“所以我们希望借此机会为未来的成功登月做好两家供应商的准备，”他说，”如果时间安排可行，能够与这两个着陆器会合对接，这是正确的做法……再次强调，这是为了在2028年实现高信心的登月机会而应采取的正确步骤。”
2028年底前发射阿尔忒弥斯三号、四号和五号任务并不容易，艾萨克曼表示，NASA重建其员工队伍并重新获得技术能力以支持更高的发射频率至关重要，从大约每18个月一次飞行提高到每年一次飞行。他认为，这种节奏将降低风险。
“当你重新获得这些核心能力并开始锻炼你的’肌肉’时，你的技能不会萎缩，”他说，”这更安全。是的，你在降低风险，因为你能够在需要登月之前在近地轨道测试这些技术，这正是我们在阿波罗时代所做的。”
他表示，他不责怪NASA的承包商导致阿尔忒弥斯计划目前发射速度缓慢。相反，”我们本应该在过去做出更好的决定，而不是从阿尔忒弥斯二号直接到阿尔忒弥斯三号实现月球着陆。”
安全顾问呼吁改变”高风险”计划
阿尔忒弥斯计划调整是在航空航天安全咨询委员会发布报告两天后宣布的，该报告称原计划从阿尔忒弥斯二号直接在2028年使用SpaceX着陆器实现月球着陆的计划没有适当的安全余量，且不切实际。
该委员会对该任务目前形式所需的”首次”任务数量表示担忧，并建议NASA”重组阿尔忒弥斯计划，为阿尔忒弥斯三号及未来任务打造更平衡的风险态势”。
艾萨克曼概述的计划似乎解决了安全委员会提出的许多核心问题。
官员表示，艾萨克曼已与SpaceX和蓝色起源讨论加速着陆器开发，两家公司均表示同意。他还与波音公司（负责SLS火箭并建造其巨大的一级助推器）、联合发射联盟（负责火箭上面级）、猎户座飞船制造商洛克希德·马丁公司以及其他阿尔忒弥斯计划承包商讨论了加速调整计划。
官员称，所有公司都表示同意。
“波音是阿尔忒弥斯任务的自豪合作伙伴，我们的团队很荣幸能为NASA的美国太空领导愿景做出贡献，”波音公司国防、太空与安全部门总裁兼首席执行官史蒂夫·帕克在一份声明中表示，”我们已准备好满足增加的需求。”
艾萨克曼还表示，该机构将停止开发更强大版本的SLS火箭上面级（称为探索上面级，EUS）。相反，NASA将继续使用一个”标准化的”、动力稍弱但能最大限度减少每次飞行之间重大变化的上面级，并使用相同的发射塔架。
在原有的阿尔忒弥斯架构下，NASA计划了多个版本的SLS火箭，从目前使用的”Block 1″型到配备更强大EUS的Block 1B型，最终到使用先进固体火箭助推器的更大的Block 2型。后两种型号需要使用更高的移动发射塔架，而该塔架已在肯尼迪航天中心开始建设。
“为后续阿尔忒弥斯任务改变SLS和猎户座飞船的配置过于复杂，”NASA副署长阿米特·克沙特里亚在一份声明中表示。
“整个阿尔忒弥斯飞行序列需要代表能力的逐步累积，每一步都应让我们更接近执行着陆任务的能力。每一步都应该足够大以取得进展，但不应大到根据以往经验而承担不必要的风险。”
因此，NASA将坚持使用目前版本的SLS火箭，并增加”标准化”上面级。未提供其他细节。
艾萨克曼在结束CBS采访时表示，经过飞行测试的硬件、焕发活力的员工队伍和更类似阿波罗时代的管理策略只是故事的一部分。
“还需要另一个要素，那就是轨道经济，无论是在近地轨道还是月球表面，”艾萨克曼说。
“我们必须做一些能够从太空和月球表面获得比投入更多价值的事情。这才是真正点燃经济的方式，也是我们在太空想做的一切不永远依赖纳税人的关键。”
克里斯蒂安·达文波特对本报道有贡献。
NASA announces major overhaul of Artemis moon program amid safety concerns, delays: “We’ve got to get back to basics”
2026-02-27T10:08:00-0500 / CBS News
New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a major overhaul of the agency’s Artemis moon program Friday, acknowledging that the agency’s plan to land astronauts on the moon in 2028 was not realistic without another preparatory mission first to lay the groundwork.
He said NASA will now add an additional flight in 2027 to carry out tests of new commercial landers in low-Earth orbit, and then launch at least one and possibly two lunar landing missions in 2028.
The goal is to accelerate the pace of launches of the huge Space Launch System rocket while carrying out Artemis flights in evolutionary steps — not attempting missions that rely on too many untested technologies and procedures at once.
“We’re going to get there in steps, continue to take down risk as we learn more and we roll that information into subsequent designs,” Isaacman told CBS News. “We’ve got to get back to basics.”
Isaacman outlined the plan in an interview with CBS News space contributor Christian Davenport and then again during a news conference Friday.
The decision comes on the heels of a sharply-worded report from NASA’s independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel that deemed the existing plans too risky.
It also comes as NASA has been struggling to launch the delayed Artemis II mission on a flight to send four astronauts on a trip around the moon.
Launch had been planned for early February, but it was delayed to repair a hydrogen leak and, more recently, to give engineers time to fix a helium pressurization problem in the rocket’s upper stage. Launch is now on hold until at least April 1.
NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is rolled back from the launch pad to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 25, 2026. Paul Hennesy/Anadolu via Getty Images
The Artemis III mission, which had been expected to land astronauts near the moon’s south pole in 2028, now will be redefined and rescheduled — launching in 2027 but not to the moon, Isaacman said. Instead, the yet-to-be-named astronauts will rendezvous and dock in orbit closer to home with one or both of the commercially built lunar landers now under development at Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
The idea is to gain valuable near-term flight experience before attempting a moon landing with astronauts on board. With Artemis III under its belt, NASA hopes to launch two moon landing missions in 2028, Artemis IV and V, using one or both landers, and to continue with one moonshot per year thereafter.
“What helps us get to the moon? Well, for sure, rendezvous and docking with one or ideally both landers, that gives you an opportunity to do some integrated testing of a vehicle that we are going to depend upon the following year to take those astronauts down to the surface of the moon,” Isaacman told CBS News.
The revised Artemis III mission will also give astronauts a chance to test out to test out new spacesuits future moonwalkers will use.
“It’s an opportunity to … actually have the suits in microgravity, even if we don’t go outside the vehicle in them. You get a lot of good learning from that,” Isaacman said.
The Artemis III test flight with one or two lander dockings in Earth orbit is similar in concept to Apollo 9, which launched a command module and lander to Earth orbit for flight tests in 1969 and helped pave the way to the Apollo 11 landing four months later.
Isaacman said SpaceX and Blue Origin are “both looking to do uncrewed landing demonstrations as part of the existing agreement.”
“So we want to just take advantage of this to set up both vendors for future success on a lunar landing,” he said. “This is the proper way to do it, if it works out from a timing perspective, to be able to rendezvous and dock with both. … This, again, is the right way to proceed in order to have a high confidence opportunity in ’28 to land.”
The Artemis IV and V missions in 2028 will use whichever landers are deemed ready for service. If only one company’s lander is available, that lander would be used for both missions, an official said. If both are available, one would be used for one flight and one for the other.
Launching Artemis III, IV and V before the end of 2028 will not be easy, and Isaacman said it is essential that NASA rebuild its workforce and regain the technical competence to support a higher launch cadence, moving from one flight every 18 months or so to a flight every year. That pace, he argued, will reduce risk.
“When you regain these core competencies and you start exercising your muscles, your skills do not atrophy,” he said. “It’s safer. And yes, you are buying down risk, because you’re able to test things in low Earth orbit before you need to get to the moon, which is exactly what we did during the Apollo era.”
He said he did not blame NASA’s contractors for the current slow pace of Artemis launches. Instead, “we should have made better decisions (in the past) and said, you don’t go from Artemis II to landing on the moon with Artemis III.”
Safety advisers called for changes to “high risk” plans
The Artemis overhaul was announced two days after the release of a report by the lAerospace Safety Advisory Panel that said the original plan to move directly from Artemis II to a lunar touchdown in 2028 using a SpaceX lander did not have the proper margin of safety and did not appear to be realistically achievable.
The panel raised concerns about the number of “firsts” required by that mission in its current form and recommended that NASA “restructure the Artemis Program to create a more balanced risk posture for Artemis III and future missions.”
The plan outlined by Isaacman appears to address many of the core issues raised by the safety panel.
Officials said Isaacman had discussed accelerating lander development with both SpaceX and Blue Origin and that both were on board. He also discussed the accelerated Artemis overhaul with Boeing, which manages the SLS rocket and builds its massive first stage; with United Launch Alliance, builder of the rocket’s upper stage, Orion-builder Lockheed Martin and other Artemis contractors.
All, the official said, were in agreement.
“Boeing is a proud partner to the Artemis mission and our team is honored to contribute to NASA’s vision for American space leadership,” Steve Parker, the president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said in a statement. “We are ready to meet the increased demand.”
Isaacman also said the agency would halt work to develop a more powerful version of the SLS rocket’s upper stage, known as the Exploration Upper Stage, or EUS. Instead, NASA will go forward with a “standardized,” less powerful stage but one that will minimize major changes between flights and utilize the same launch gantry.
Under the original Artemis architecture, NASA planned on multiple versions of the SLS rocket, ranging from the “Block 1” vehicle currently in use to a more powerful EUS-equipped Block 1B and eventually an even bigger Block 2 model using advanced solid rocket boosters. The latter two versions required use of a taller mobile launch gantry, already well under construction at the Kennedy Space Center.
“It is needlessly complicated to alter the configuration of the SLS and Orion stack to undertake subsequent Artemis missions,” Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator, said in a statement.
An uncrewed Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft launches on the Artemis I flight test, on Nov. 16, 2022, at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images
“The entire sequence of Artemis flights needs to represent a step-by-step build-up of capability, with each step bringing us closer to our ability to perform the landing missions. Each step needs to be big enough to make progress, but not so big that we take unnecessary risk given previous learnings.”
As a result, NASA will stick with the current version of the SLS with the addition of the “standardized” upper stage. No other details were provided.
Isaacman closed out the CBS interview by saying flight-tested hardware, a revitalized work force and a more Apollo-like management strategy are only part of the story.
“There’s another ingredient that’s required, and that’s the orbital economy, whether it happens in low-Earth orbit or on the lunar surface,” Isaacman said.
“We’ve got to do something where we can get more value out of space and the lunar surface than we put into it. And that’s how you really ignite an economy, and that’s how everything we want to do in space is not perpetually dependent on taxpayers.”
Christian Davenport contributed to this report.
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