---
type: source
title: "NASA Advances Artemis III Plans Following Artemis II — Artemis IV First Crewed Lunar Landing Targeting 2028"
author: "YourNews (@yournews)"
url: https://yournews.com/2026/04/11/6784261/nasa-advances-artemis-iii-plans-following-historic-crewed-lunar-flyby/
date: 2026-04-11
domain: space-development
secondary_domains: []
format: article
status: null-result
priority: high
tags: [artemis, artemis-iv, artemis-v, lunar-landing, south-pole, starship-hls, blue-moon, 2028]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

Following Artemis II's successful splashdown (April 10, 2026), NASA has confirmed the Artemis sequence:

- **Artemis III (mid-2027):** LEO rendezvous and docking test with Starship HLS and/or Blue Moon. No lunar landing.
- **Artemis IV (early 2028):** FIRST crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 (1972). South pole. Two crew transfer from Orion to lander. ~1 week surface stay. Astronauts will be the first humans at lunar south pole.
- **Artemis V (late 2028):** Second crewed lunar landing.

Artemis IV target: early 2028. Artemis V target: late 2028.

The crewed lunar landing sequence (IV in 2028, V in 2028) runs parallel to Project Ignition Phase 1 (robotic precursors, 2027-2030). Phase 2 (human presence weeks/months) begins 2029, overlapping with Artemis V and potential Artemis VI.

Additional coverage context:
- Artemis IV Wikipedia entry confirms "early 2028, south pole, first crewed landing since Apollo 17"
- Artemis V Wikipedia confirms late 2028
- FlightGlobal April 11: "NASA turns to Artemis III after successful return of Orion crew"

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** Establishes the definitive critical path: Artemis II (complete) → III (LEO test, 2027) → IV (first landing, early 2028) → V (second landing, late 2028) → Project Ignition Phase 2 (human habitation, 2029+). This is the timeline for when crewed cislunar surface operations actually begin operationally.

**What surprised me:** The overlap of Artemis IV/V (2028) with Project Ignition Phase 1 end/Phase 2 start (2029) means the first crewed landings occur BEFORE the base infrastructure is in place. Early Artemis missions will be surface exploration without permanent infrastructure, while Phase 1 robotic work is still building the foundations.

**What I expected but didn't find:** No mention of how Artemis IV interacts with the LTV program — will the LTV be ready for astronaut use in early 2028? The LTV Phase 1 feasibility studies are scheduled for delivery/award in 2025-2026, but operational LTV delivery is Phase 2 (2029+). So Artemis IV astronauts likely won't have LTV access.

**KB connections:** Directly extends the Artemis II splashdown finding (April 11 musing). The full sequence is now clear: empirical validation (Artemis II, complete) → systems integration test (Artemis III, 2027) → operational crewed surface (Artemis IV, 2028). Connects to "cislunar attractor state achievable within 30 years" — the first crewed surface milestone is 2028, 3 years from 2025 baseline.

**Extraction hints:** "NASA's Artemis IV (early 2028) will be the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 and the first humans at the lunar south pole — the specific location chosen for water ice access supports the strategic keystone resource claim." Also: "The gap between first crewed landing (Artemis IV, 2028) and first continuous habitation (Project Ignition Phase 3, 2032+) defines a 4-year exploratory window before sustainable operations begin."

**Context:** Post-Artemis II coverage. NASA Administrator Isaacman signaled focus on moving quickly to Artemis III planning. The LEO docking test structure for Artemis III ensures Artemis IV's lunar landing attempt has maximally validated HLS docking procedures. This is sound engineering sequencing, but it extends the first crewed landing by ~2 years vs. the original Artemis III plan.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: Timeline for crewed cislunar surface operations; attractor state milestone mapping
WHY ARCHIVED: First crewed lunar landing (2028) + continuous habitation (2032+) are the key milestone dates for the attractor state timeline
EXTRACTION HINT: The 2028 → 2032 gap (first landing → continuous habitation) is a 4-year window where crewed surface operations happen without self-sustaining infrastructure — worth framing as the "bridge gap" risk in the surface-first architecture
