Griffin Mission One slips to January 31, 2027 as Artemis III stack advances at Kennedy

This week on the Moon

Our data shows no lunar launches, landings or scheduled events in the coming week.

United States

Launch Library 2 moved the date of the Falcon Heavy launch of Griffin Mission One later, from December 31, 2026 to January 31, 2027 (UTC dates). The change was observed on November 1.^[1]

NASA reported that the Artemis III Space Launch System core stage was integrated between its two solid rocket boosters on October 28 inside High Bay 3 of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center. New Space Economy described the result as the rocket's short-stack configuration ahead of a planned propellant-loading test.^[2][3][4]

NASASpaceFlight published a report in which NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman outlines the planned Artemis III multi-launch checkout sequence and a Blue Origin priority. NASASpaceFlight also reported that Blue Origin is moving towards a potential return to flight by late 2026, with Artemis IV selection in view.^[5][6]

Space.com reported that the Artemis III astronauts met President Trump at the White House on October 28 while training for a 2027 moon lander test flight. A NASA Science podcast episode covered Artemis III lunar lander test articles and docking operations.^[7][8]

Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman was named Caltech associate vice president and deputy director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, according to NASA.^[9]

Vietnam became the 78th signatory of the Artemis Accords, according to NASA. SpaceWatch.Global reported that Minister of Science and Technology Vũ Hải Quân signed on October 28.^[10]

China

Nothing new for China in our data this week.

Elsewhere

New Space Economy reported that Turkey's TLM-1 lunar spacecraft is entering environmental testing ahead of a planned Falcon 9 launch in the second quarter of 2027, with the mission team targeting April for departure, citing Spaceflight Now's October 30 report. Spaceflight Now described it as the first of a pair of Turkish flights to the Moon: an orbiter with several scientific instruments, followed by a lander.^[12][13]

Tracker check

The tracker, as of October 11, rates the crewed landing ladder as United States 3.5 of 8 rungs and China 1.75 of 8 rungs, with the status "United States leads on demonstrated milestones". The listed official targets are "2028 for Artemis IV" for the United States and "Before 2030 (2030年前)" for China.^[14][15]

On the permanent presence ladder, the tracker shows United States 1 of 8 rungs and China 1.25 of 8 rungs, with the status "Level on demonstrated milestones". The targets are the same as above. The projected first crewed landing is listed as "Too close to call".^[16][17][18]

Two tracker lines changed between October 25 and November 1. For both the crewed landing and permanent presence ladders, the United States official target wording changed from "2028 (NASA target: early 2028) for Artemis IV" to "2028 for Artemis IV". The status text did not change.^[19][20]