NASA administrator Isaacman sets timeline for 2028 Artemis moon landing

INTERMEDIATE: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman laid out the timeline for the Artemis Moon landing and discussed the current delays in the Artemis II mission during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.

The agency announced Friday that Artemis III, Artemis IV and Artemis V will be launched before the end of President Donald Trump’s second term. Artemis IV and Artemis V will be the missions when astronauts return to the surface of the Moon.

“To be extremely clear, we have not extended our timeline or any delays. What we have done is add more missions, limited, so that we can actually achieve the national goal that President Trump has set to return American astronauts to the Moon, and create a permanent presence for them to stay,” Isaacman told Fox News Digital.

“Artemis II, we will launch in a few weeks [and] go to the moon,” explained Isaacman. “Artemis III will launch in mid-2027 with the goal of buying a low-risk and low-Earth orbit for the next. [Moon] efforts to reach 2028.”

The Artemis program was originally launched by President Donald Trump during his first term in December 2017.

Isaacman wants to complete four Artemis missions under his tenure at the agency, while the Biden administration successfully completed one unmanned test flight in 2022.

The NASA administrator has been criticizing the Biden administration for the launch delay, telling Fox News Digital “the previous administration didn’t make the decisions four years ago that needed to be made.”

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Jared Isaacman defended the Artemis delay as a necessary fix, criticizing the Biden administration for not doing anything and insisting on a quick, consistent launch to build a continued presence on the moon. (REUTERS/Joe Skipper)

“That’s being fixed now,” Isaacman said. “You need to balance, you need to present with sound. That’s how you get back to the moon. That’s how you stay. President Trump is behind that 100%.

Artemis II was scheduled to launch in early February, although the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket was moved from the launchpad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to repair a helium leak on Wednesday.

In response to the delay of Artemis II, the director also pointed out that the three-year delay between the last successful mission of the Artemis crew and the current one is setting the agency back.

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“You can’t launch a rocket this complex and important every three years, and expect to fix it,” added Isaacman. “It’s just there, there’s no muscle memory there. They’re going to make mistakes.”

“We’re not going to rush this, because, obviously, we’re repeating, re-learning the same lessons, which means we didn’t get the technical basics the last time, three years ago,” Isaacman said. “We hope, in a few days, we will be able to wrap our arms around it [Artemis II].”

The agency plans to complete four Moon jobs during President Donald Trump’s second term. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

Isaacman said the current launch window for Artemis II is set for early April.

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The 43-year-old billionaire was sworn in as the head of the space agency last December. Isaacman himself is an avid space enthusiast, having ordered the first commercial space flight in September 2024.

Less than 100 days into his tenure as director, Isaacman has been vocal in his commitment to Trump’s mission to return Americans to the surface of the Moon and beyond — a mission that was last completed during Apollo 17 in 1972, more than half a century ago.

“The path we’ve been taking is the right path, and it’s consistent with NASA’s history,” Isaacman told Fox News Digital. “We didn’t go well on Apollo 11. We launched on frequency, and we continued to learn and buy risk.”

America has not landed on the Moon since 1972. (Getty Images)

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“NASA, throughout our history, on average, every three months, our design vehicles from Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, through the space shuttle. Apollo 8 was launched less than two months after Apollo 7 blasted off,” said Isacaman.

“This is how you get back to the moon and be able to land,” said the NASA administrator.

He also noted that funding for the equipment and resources needed for success are already available at the agency, and that “we have everything we need.”

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One of the key factors in ensuring the completion of the Artemis mission is manpower, and Isaacman argued against the large number of contractors who work with the space agency, but are not employed by NASA itself.

Jared Isaacman, who has publicly supported President Donald Trump’s plan to return to the Moon, was sworn in as NASA director last December. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images, Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

When asked if he plans to switch contractors to NASA employees, Isaacman said, “100%.”

“One of the first things I noticed at work after visiting all the NASA facilities was all the skills we’ve outsourced or lost over the years,” Isaacman explained. “Contractors are great and should contribute to NASA in areas where we shouldn’t be the best in the world.”

“But when we’re talking about the launchpad, launch control, mission control in Houston, those should be government employees,” Isaacman told Fox News Digital. “That should be a core competency at NASA. We should be the best in the world at it. We’re going to use the workforce directive that came out weeks ago to turn contractors into civil servants, rebuild critical capabilities.”

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The head of NASA said that top contractors, such as Boeing, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, have told him they support a timeline that will ultimately fulfill Trump’s vision of returning humanity to the Moon.

“We have the support of the whole world in this,” explained Isaacman. “Support from all the prime contractors in this program. Lockheed, Boeing, ULA, SpaceX, Blue Origin and all the congressional leaders who have space equity understand that this is the way back to the Moon.”

Preston Mizell is a reporter for Fox News. News tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and X @MizellPreston

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