NASA has revealed a major update to its Moon landing program with the selection of a new lunar lander. Blue Origin’s Blue Moon has been chosen as the second certified Human Landing System for the Artemis program.

Even as NASA celebrated the rollout of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II over the weekend, NASA's new administrator, Jared Isaacman, made sure to put an asterisk on the program's future.

No one in NASA’s Artemis II crew had been born when astronauts last ventured into deep space for the final Apollo program Moon landing in 1972. For the last half-century, human space efforts have focused on science research and technology initiatives aboard low-Earth-orbit spacecraft, culminating with the Inter-national Space Station.

NASA announced that the earliest launch window for Artemis II is Feb. 6, 2026, with 12 more possible dates available from February-April. The Artemis mission, a followup to the Apollo program, hopes to have astronauts back on the moon’s surface by 2027.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA’s giant new moon rocket headed to the launch pad Saturday in preparation for astronauts’ first lunar fly-around in more than half a century. The out-and-back trip could blast off as early as February.

From a return of humans to lunar orbit, to Japan's first crack at Mars, advanced space travel and exploration is set to continue in 2026.