ArtemisIV 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]