NASA cancels Lunar Gateway to build $20 billion moon base
Mar 24th 2026 ยท United States
New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will pause the orbital Lunar Gateway project and redirect resources to build a moon surface base over seven years while keeping Artemis II and the 2028 return-to-moon goal.
- NASA will pause the Lunar Gateway in its current form and prioritize a roughly $20 billion lunar surface base to be built over the next seven years.
- Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the change at NASA headquarters in Washington.
- The agency plans to repurpose existing Gateway hardware and international partner commitments for surface infrastructure.
- Artemis II and the target to return humans to the moon by 2028 remain in place with an added pre-landing test mission.
- NASA recently repositioned the Space Launch System at Kennedy Space Center as Artemis II preparations continue.
- China and Russia are pursuing competing lunar projects, with China aiming for a landing by 2030 and the two nations planning an International Lunar Research Station by 2036.
Articles
- NASA to spend $20 billion on moon base, cancel orbiting lunar station www.reuters.com
- Goodbye, Lunar Gateway: NASA ditches Moon station for Moon base go.theregister.com
- NASA plans moon base instead of orbital lunar station www.dw.com
- NASA to spend $20 billion on ambitious moon base www.cbsnews.com
- Nasa to spend $20bn on moon base after cancelling orbiting station www.theguardian.com
- NASA kills lunar space station to focus on ambitious Moon base arstechnica.com