Space & Astronomy

NASA cancels lunar space station in favor of more ambitious plan

By T.K. Randall
March 25, 2026

Image: Moon Colony
Credit: (PD) NASA/SAIC/Pat Rawlings With the first manned mission around the Moon (Artemis II) still on schedule for a launch on April 1st, it seems that NASA has been thinking long and hard about the future of lunar exploration.

While there had been plans to place a permanent orbital outpost around the Moon to act as a stepping stone for future manned missions to the lunar surface, new NASA administrator Jared Isaacman has now revealed that this won't actually be going ahead as planned.

Instead, the space agency will work to set up a base on the Moon's surface, a process that will take around seven years and will re-use some of the Lunar Gateway's already completed components."It should not really surprise anyone that we are pausing Gateway in its current form and focusing on infrastructure that supports sustained operations on the lunar surface," Isaacman told attendees at a recent event at NASA's headquarters in Washington DC.

"Despite some of the very real hardware and schedule challenges, we can repurpose equipment and international partner commitments to support surface and other program objectives."

As things stand, it isn't clear exactly what these changes will mean for the manned space program moving forward, especially given that Lunar Gateway had aimed to enable easier access to the Moon's surface - perhaps the most important thing needed to build a base there.

Which vehicles will be used to transport astronauts to and from the base also remains unclear.

Source: The Guardian

Tags: Lunar Gateway, Moon