Shirt a Phobia

Sample Page

Artemis IV is planned to be the third crewed mission and first lunar landing of the NASA-led Artemis program, marking the first crewed landing on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

For this mission, a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will send an Orion spacecraft carrying the four astronaut crew members to lunar orbit. The mission depends on a prior support flight to place a lunar lander—either SpaceX‘s Starship HLS or Blue Origin‘s Blue Moon—into lunar orbit before the crew launch. When Orion docks with the lander, two astronauts will transfer to it, descend to the lunar surface and conduct extravehicular activities there.[1] They will then ascend back to the Orion waiting in lunar orbit, which will return the four astronauts to Earth. As of March 2026, NASA is targeting early 2028 for launch.[2]

Before October 2022, the goal for Artemis IV was simply to deliver the I-HAB module to the Lunar Gateway. Between October 2022 and February 2026, it was set to be the second lunar landing of the Artemis program, after the planned Artemis III,[3] before the Lunar Gateway was cancelled in February 2026 and this mission became the first planned lunar landing.[4]

Overview

Artemis IV will rely on a prior support flight to place a Human Landing System (HLS) lunar lander—either SpaceX’s Starship HLS or Blue Origin’s Blue Moon—into lunar orbit. After the lander is in orbit, the SLS will send an Orion spacecraft carrying the astronaut crew to rendezvous with the lander.

The spacecraft could meet in an elliptical polar orbit with coplanar lines of apsides and dock.[5] This orbit has a perilune of 100 kilometers (62 mi; 54 nmi), minimizing the number and duration of burns the HLS must perform to reach the lunar surface, and an apolune of 6,500 kilometers (4,000 mi; 3,500 nmi) to accommodate the limited propulsion of Orion’s European Service Module, which cannot depart from a low lunar orbit.[6]

Once docked, the crew will transfer to the lander, descend to the lunar surface, conduct extravehicular activities, and then return to Orion in lunar orbit for the journey back to Earth.[7]

Elements

Space Launch System

The Space Launch System (SLS) is a super-heavy-lift launcher used to launch the Orion spacecraft from Earth to a trans-lunar orbit. This mission’s core stage will use RS-25 engines E2044, E2050, E2051, and E2063.[8][9] This will potentially be the first mission to use the standardized configuration of the SLS, with a Centaur V upper stage in place of the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) flown on the previous SLS launches. However, Artemis IV may instead use the ICPS if NASA elects to not use an ICPS on the Artemis III mission to test the HLS landers in Earth orbit.[2][10]

Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

Orion is the crew transport vehicle used by all Artemis missions. It comprises the Orion Crew Module and the European Service Module and will transport the crew from Earth to Lunar orbit, dock to the lander, and return them to Earth.[11]

The European Service Module (ESM) for Artemis IV, ESM-4, was delivered to NASA from the Airbus facility in Bremen, Germany, in December 2025.[12]

Human Landing System

Artemis IV will use one of NASA’s two Human Landing System lunar landers: SpaceX’s Starship HLS or Blue Origin’s Blue Moon. The choice of lander depends on the results of the low-Earth orbit rendezvous and docking tests conducted during Artemis III in mid-2027, as well as each company’s readiness to deliver a spacecraft.[2]

See also

References

  1. ^ “Artemis IV”. nasa.gov. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  2. ^ a b c Warner, Cheryl (March 3, 2026). “NASA Strengthens Artemis: Adds Mission, Refines Overall Architecture”. NASA. Retrieved March 3, 2026.
  3. ^ Foust, Jeff (October 30, 2022). “Lunar landing restored for Artemis 4 mission – SpaceNews”. SpaceNews. Retrieved April 5, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Cameron, Claire. “NASA scraps 2027 Artemis III moon landing in favor of 2028 mission”. Scientific American. Retrieved April 7, 2026.
  5. ^ Esty, C Clark; Lee, David; Martinez, Roland; McCarthy, Brian (July 28, 2022). “Assessment of Cislunar Staging Orbits to Support the Artemis III Lunar Surface Mission”. nasa.gov. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
  6. ^ Berger, Eric (March 6, 2026). “NASA has shuffled its Artemis rockets. But what of the lunar landers?”. Ars Technica. Retrieved March 28, 2026.
  7. ^ Foust, Jeff (October 30, 2022). “Lunar landing restored for Artemis 4 mission”. SpaceNews. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  8. ^ “RS-25 engine assignments”. The Planetary Society. Archived from the original on August 17, 2023. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  9. ^ Sloss, Philip (November 18, 2025). “L3Harris testing brand new RS-25 engines for future Artemis launches”. NASASpaceFlight.com. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
  10. ^ Boyer, Charles (March 6, 2026). “NASA Formally Selects ULA’s Centaur V For Artemis IV and V”. TalkOfTitusville.com. Retrieved March 24, 2026.
  11. ^ Rincon, Paul (November 10, 2021). “NASA’s Orion spacecraft: A guide”. BBC. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  12. ^ “European Service Module-4 is ready to sail”. European Space Agency (Press release). November 10, 2025. Retrieved March 4, 2026.