New NASA Chief Aiming for Moon Landings Every Month in 2027

NASA’s Moon program is undergoing a major revamp under the agency’s new leadership, and the lunar surface may be a busy place come next year. Jared Isaacman recently revealed an ambitious plan to land missions on the Moon once every month in 2027, the NASA administrator said during a recent interview with SpaceFlight Now. The regular missions will be geared toward building a lunar base on the Moon’s surface, which will act as a laboratory for astronauts to develop ways to live beyond Earth’s orbit. “If you’re building a Moon base and you’re going there to stay, you’re gonna need lots of missions to and from the Moon,” Isaacman said during the interview. The upcoming missions will be part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which serves as an important element of the agency’s Artemis program. Under $2.6 billion in contracts, various companies are tasked with developing payloads and pulling off touchdowns on the Moon’s surface through 2028. “I want landers on the Moon in the south pole on a monthly cadence starting in beginning of 2027,” Isaacman said. “There is a lot to build out there.” He then listed the type of infrastructure needed for the lunar base,