Race to the Moon

When is the next Moon landing?

The next uncrewed landing attempt with an official target is Griffin Mission One ("Moon Base II") (United States): No earlier than November 2026 (NASA Moon Base manager, 15 Sep 2026). After it: Blue Moon MK1 "Endurance" ("Moon Base I") (United States), First part of 2027 (NASA, 15 Sep 2026; was "no earlier than fall 2026"); IM-3 Nova-C "Trinity" ("Moon Base III") (United States), First part of 2027 (NASA); first quarter of 2027 (Intuitive Machines CEO).

Crewed landings with an official target: Artemis IV: first crewed landing since 1972 (United States), 2028 (NASA target: early 2028); Artemis V: second landing (United States), By late 2028 (NASA ESDMD, 3 Mar 2026); China’s first crewed landing (China), Before 2030 (2030年前). Official targets are windows, not dates, so their order is not settled; on the tracker’s projection, who lands people first is: too close to call.

The last crewed landing was Apollo 17 on 11 Dec 1972. The most recent uncrewed landing attempt was Hakuto-R Mission 2 "Resilience" (Japan) on 5 Jun 2025: crashed.

Data reviewed against sources as of 24 Sep 2026 · All dates UTC unless a local time is shown

Next uncrewed landing attempts

Robotic landers, rovers and sample returns with an official target, ordered by the start of each target’s window. Where a target has passed without a launch, it says so.

1.US (United States)Scheduled
Griffin Mission One ("Moon Base II") · Astrobotic, a Voyager Technologies company (NASA CLPS)
Official target, as worded: No earlier than November 2026 (NASA Moon Base manager, 15 Sep 2026)
Sources: Aerospace America (AIAA) (15 Sep 2026) · NASA (updated 1 Sep 2026) · NASA Science (updated 6 May 2026) · Voyager Technologies (13 Jul 2026)
2.US (United States)Scheduled
Blue Moon MK1 "Endurance" ("Moon Base I") · Blue Origin (NASA CLPS)
Official target, as worded: First part of 2027 (NASA, 15 Sep 2026; was "no earlier than fall 2026")
Sources: Aerospace America (AIAA) (15 Sep 2026) · NASA (release 26-046) (26 May 2026) · Spaceflight Now (30 Jun 2026)
3.US (United States)Scheduled
IM-3 Nova-C "Trinity" ("Moon Base III") · Intuitive Machines (NASA CLPS)
Official target, as worded: First part of 2027 (NASA); first quarter of 2027 (Intuitive Machines CEO)
Sources: Aerospace America (AIAA) (15 Sep 2026) · NASA (release 26-046) (26 May 2026) · NASA Science (updated 6 May 2026)
4.US (United States)Scheduled
IM-4 (CP-22) · Intuitive Machines (NASA CLPS)
Official target, as worded: NET 2027 (NSSDCA)
Sources: NASA Science (updated 6 May 2026) · NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog (read 23 Sep 2026)
5.US (United States)Scheduled
Blue Moon MK1 #2 with VIPER · Blue Origin / NASA
Official target, as worded: Late 2027 (NASA, Sep 2025), conditional
Sources: NASA (19 Sep 2025) · NASA (17 Jul 2024)
6.US (United States)Scheduled
Blue Ghost Mission 2 · Firefly Aerospace (NASA CLPS)
Official target, as worded: Later in 2027 (NASA, 15 Sep 2026)
Sources: Aerospace America (AIAA) (15 Sep 2026) · NASA Science (updated 6 May 2026) · Firefly Aerospace (22 May 2025) · Dubai Media Office (MBRSC) (3 Nov 2025)
7.US (United States)Scheduled
Blue Ghost Mission 3 (CP-21) · Firefly Aerospace (NASA CLPS)
Official target, as worded: 2028 (NASA award, Dec 2024)
Sources: NASA (Dec 2024) · NASA Science (updated 6 May 2026)
8.US (United States)Scheduled
Four CLPS deliveries awarded 30 Jun 2026 · Astrobotic (2), Firefly, Intuitive Machines
Official target, as worded: Late 2028 (NASA, 30 Jun 2026)
Unconfirmed (reported but not confirmed by a primary source):
- The mission names "Peregrine M2/M3, IM-6, Blue Ghost M5" are not NASA’s.
Sources: NASA (30 Jun 2026) · Via Satellite (30 Jun 2026)
9.IN (India)Scheduled
Chandrayaan-4 (sample return) · ISRO
Official target, as worded: By 2028 (ISRO chairman, 11 Dec 2025; earlier "2027")
Unconfirmed (reported but not confirmed by a primary source):
- Up to 3 kg of samples and a landing site at about 84–86°S (not in the cited sources; SpaceNews reported a band of 85–90°S in 2024).
Sources: Republic World (12 Dec 2025) · Business Standard (6 Feb 2025) · All India Radio News (5 Feb 2026)
10.IN (India)Scheduled
Chandrayaan-5 / LUPEX · ISRO
Official target, as worded: By 2028 (ISRO chairman, 11 Dec 2025)
Sources: Republic World (12 Dec 2025) · All India Radio News (5 Feb 2026) · IANS (via NewKerala) (17 Mar 2025) · ISRO (15 May 2025)
11.JP (Japan)Scheduled
ispace Mission 3 (ULTRA lander) · ispace
Official target, as worded: 2028
Sources: ispace (27 Mar 2026) · ispace (29 Jul 2026)
12.US (United States)Scheduled
Blue Ghost Mission 4 (CS-6) · Firefly Aerospace (NASA CLPS)
Official target, as worded: Landing targeted in 2029 (NASA award, Jul 2025)
Sources: NASA (Jul 2025) · NASA Science (updated 6 May 2026)
13.CN (China)Scheduled
Chang’e 8 · China (lunar exploration programme)
Official target, as worded: Around 2029 (CNSA, Apr 2025; the Sep 2024 plan said around 2028)
Unconfirmed (reported but not confirmed by a primary source):
- Reports (Sep 2026) that some Chang’e-8 payloads move to 2030–2031 missions, or that the mission is cancelled.
- A 35 kg mass for Pakistan’s rover (SUPARCO says 30 kg).
Sources: China National Space Administration (Xinhua) (24 Apr 2025) · gov.cn (Xinhua) (7 Sep 2024) · China National Space Administration (Xinhua) (24 Apr 2025) · Dawn (13 Aug 2026)
14.JP (Japan)Scheduled
ispace Mission 4 · ispace
Official target, as worded: 2029
Sources: ispace (27 Mar 2026)
15.RU (Russia)Scheduled
Luna-27A and 27B (landers) · Roscosmos
Official target, as worded: Luna-27A 2029, Luna-27B 2030 (IKI, Aug 2025; was 2028)
Unconfirmed (reported but not confirmed by a primary source):
- Which pole each lander targets (27A south, 27B north, per Wikipedia).
Sources: Interfax (11 Aug 2025) · Meduza (relaying Kommersant) (7 Apr 2026) · Wikipedia (read 23 Sep 2026, secondary)
16.ESA (Europe (ESA))Scheduled
ESA Argonaut · ESA (Thales Alenia Space-led)
Official target, as worded: First mission expected to launch in 2030 on an Ariane 64 (ESA, 20 Nov 2025; in Jan 2025 ESA had said ArgoNET, 2031)
Unconfirmed (reported but not confirmed by a primary source):
- A €862M contract (not in ESA’s releases).
Sources: ESA (PR N°76–2025) (20 Nov 2025) · ESA (PR N°6–2025) (30 Jan 2025)
17.KR (South Korea)Scheduled
Korean lunar lander · KASA
Official target, as worded: 2032 (KASA Administrator)
Unconfirmed (reported but not confirmed by a primary source):
- Design completion in 2028.
- A verification lander in 2031 (probably superseded by the 2030 public-private lander; SatNews lists only a 2031 Earth–Moon science probe).
Sources: Korea Herald (read 23 Sep 2026) · Korea JoongAng Daily (20 Jul 2026) · SatNews (16 Jul 2026)

Next crewed landings

Crewed landings with an official target. A “before” target (such as China’s) is ordered by the end of its window. Who lands first is the tracker’s question: projected crewed-landing windows.

1.US (United States)Scheduled
Artemis IV: first crewed landing since 1972 · NASA
Official target, as worded: 2028 (NASA target: early 2028)
Sources: NASA (RELEASE 26-022) (27 Feb 2026) · NASA ESDMD (3 Mar 2026) · NASA (updated 16 Mar 2026) · U.S. GAO (GAO-26-108556) (23 Jul 2026)
2.US (United States)Scheduled
Artemis V: second landing · NASA
Official target, as worded: By late 2028 (NASA ESDMD, 3 Mar 2026)
Sources: NASA ESDMD (3 Mar 2026) · U.S. GAO (GAO-26-108556) (23 Jul 2026) · NASA Office of Inspector General (IG-26-004) (10 Mar 2026)
3.CN (China)Scheduled
China’s first crewed landing · China Manned Space Agency
Official target, as worded: Before 2030 (2030年前)
Unconfirmed (reported but not confirmed by a primary source):
- A crew split of three launched and two landing (only Lanyue’s two seats are official).
Sources: China Manned Space Agency (CMSE site) (23 May 2026) · China Manned Space Agency (CMSE site) (27 Feb 2026) · China Manned Space Agency (CMSE site) (14 Jun 2024) · SpaceNews (Jul 2023)

Postponed, paused or not yet dated

Landing missions in the catalogue with no official date today.

1.CN (China)Postponed
Chang’e 7 · China (lunar exploration programme; statements issued by CMSA)
No official date
Unconfirmed (reported but not confirmed by a primary source):
- A landing site near the rim of Shackleton crater (reported target; official texts say only "lunar south pole").
- Launch in 2027 (projected, not official). China in Space (31 Aug 2026) reports unattributed talk of the February and March 2027 opportunities.
Sources: China Manned Space Agency (CMSE site) (23 Aug 2026) · Xinhua (23 Aug 2026) · China Manned Space Agency (CMSE site) (19 Aug 2026) · gov.cn (Xinhua) (7 Sep 2024)
2.US (United States)Scheduled
IM-5, Intuitive Machines Nova-D (CT-4) · Intuitive Machines (NASA CLPS)
No official date
Unconfirmed (reported but not confirmed by a primary source):
- A 2030 date (Wikipedia only).
Sources: Intuitive Machines (24 Mar 2026) · NASA Science (updated 6 May 2026) · The Planetary Society (Mar 2026)
3.IL (Israel)Paused
Beresheet 2 · SpaceIL
No official date
Unconfirmed (reported but not confirmed by a primary source):
- A pause in April 2024 and a mothership-plus-two-landers design.
Sources: Ynet (2 Apr 2025) · SpaceNews (12 Jul 2023)

Stated goals without a hardware schedule

Goals and presented plans with status Projected in the catalogue: shown, but not counted as scheduled.

1.RU (Russia)Projected
Luna-30 (heavy rover) · Roscosmos
Official target, as worded: 2034
Sources: Interfax (7 Apr 2026) · Meduza (relaying Kommersant) (7 Apr 2026)
2.RU (Russia)Projected
Luna-28 (sample return) · Roscosmos
Official target, as worded: 2036
Sources: Interfax (7 Apr 2026) · Meduza (relaying Kommersant) (7 Apr 2026)
3.IN (India)Projected
Indian crewed landing · Government of India
Official target, as worded: By 2040 (PM Modi, 17 Oct 2023)
Sources: Business Today (18 Oct 2023)

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