NASA Plans at Least One Giant SLS Moon Rocket Launch a Year

Why an annual launch matters

Isaacman argued that crewed landings, and eventually a permanent lunar base, will require many SLS launches. Rather than focusing on whether landers are ready, he said, his priority is flying a heavy rocket every year. "We did a successful mission in April 2026, and we will launch again in 2027," he said.

The next flight is Artemis 3, a crewed mission to low Earth orbit. It will test docking between the Orion capsule and one or both lunar landers in the programme: SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon. Isaacman said the mission will help prepare NASA for Artemis 4, the first crewed landing, targeted for 2028.

He called one launch a year not ideal, and said he does not expect a return to the early Space Shuttle pace of about four missions a year or to Apollo-era cadence. But he sees it as the minimum needed to keep operational skills sharp and to make the most of the risk taken and the taxpayer money spent.

A closer race with China

Isaacman said Artemis differs from Apollo, noting that Artemis 2 is very different from Apollo 8 and Artemis 3 from Apollo 9. What the two eras share, he said, is the energy and capability of NASA and its industry partners, which he considers equal to the 1960s.

He also acknowledged a real space race, now with China rather than the Soviet Union. Unlike in the Cold War, when the US held a wide lead in computing and technology, "China is very close to us," he said. The US aims to land by the end of 2028, while China targets the end of 2029. Isaacman said China has already shown its landers, rovers and spacesuits, along with an architecture based on two launches and reusability technologies.