NASA expects one lunar launch this year, Moon Base manager says
NASA's Moon Base program manager announced that while the Griffin lunar lander is set for a November launch, other robotic missions have been delayed until 2027. The delays are attributed to technical setbacks, including a rocket explosion, affecting companies like Blue Origin and Intuitive Machines.
Why it matters
These delays impact the timeline for establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon and testing critical lunar surface technologies.
Voyager Technologies’ first Griffin lunar lander is on track to launch no earlier than November, but a handful of the agency’s robotic landings have slipped to 2027, NASA’s Moon Base program manager said today at the Glenn Space Technology Symposium in Ohio.
Griffin was one of four landers NASA had been planning to send to the lunar surface this year. The next two — Blue Origin’s Mark 1 Endurance and Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C Trinity — are now slated to launch in “the first part of 2027,” said Carlos García-Galán, who is overseeing the agency’s lunar surface base initiative.
The fourth, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost 2, is scheduled to launch later in 2027, he added.
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