Humans are currently expected to orbit the Moon again in early 2026 with NASA’s Artemis II mission, and then land on the lunar surface no earlier than mid‑2027 with Artemis III, if schedules and funding hold.

Key dates at a glance

  • Artemis II (no landing, lunar flyby)
    • Target: No earlier than 6–7 February 2026, with additional backup dates in March and April 2026.
* Mission: Four astronauts loop around the Moon and come back to Earth, testing the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft on a crewed flight.
  • Artemis III (first human Moon landing since Apollo)
    • Target: No earlier than mid‑2027, after a delay from an earlier 2026 goal.
* Mission: Deliver astronauts to the lunar surface near the south pole using a Human Landing System (HLS), marking the first human landing on the Moon in over 50 years.

So, in simple terms:

  • Humans go back around the Moon: planned in 2026.
  • Humans set foot on the Moon again: planned no earlier than 2027.

Why it keeps getting delayed

  • NASA has had to push back Artemis III after issues discovered during the uncrewed Artemis I test flight, including concerns about the Orion capsule’s heat shield performance.
  • Developing and integrating new systems—like the SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, the lunar lander, and the Lunar Gateway station—takes longer and costs more than early estimates, which adds schedule risk.

Big picture: what happens after

  • Later missions (Artemis IV, V, VI) into the late 2020s and early 2030s are planned to build up a small space station in lunar orbit (Gateway) and more advanced surface infrastructure.
  • The long‑term idea is to turn the Moon into a stepping‑stone for deeper space exploration, including future crewed missions to Mars.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.