NASA Administrator Bill Nelson met with the US House of Representatives House Science, Space, and Technology Committee today, where he gave updates regarding several issues currently of interest to Congress and the agency. Nelson was asked if recent articles saying that Artemis III may be transformed into a low-Earth orbit mission that tests docking with SpaceX’s Human Landing System rather than landing on the moon are true.

Will Artemis III’s Planned Mission To Land On the Moon Be Changed?

Representative Frank Lucas asked Bill Nelson directly if the mission profile for the Artemis III (currently scheduled for 2026) had been changed. Nelson was clear: it had not, and any stories to the contrary are “speculation.”

What Was Asked and What Was Said:

Chairman Frank Lucas, (R, Oklahoma): “It was recently reported that NASA is considering changing the mission profile for Artemis III, the mission scheduled for September of 2026, which is currently intended to land humans on the lunar surface.

The potential change in profile would result in a mission where astronauts do not land on the lunar surface, but rather remain in low Earth orbit. Is NASA actively considering an alternative, mission profile for Artemis III?

NASA Admin Bill Nelson: “This is part of our commercial program and SpaceX is signed up, to land, in September of [2026].”

Nelson continued: “Next year, September of [2025], we are going to launch a crew of four, three Americans and a Canadian, and they will test out the spacecraft and it will circle the moon and come home.”

“A year after that, SpaceX is signed up to provide a lander where we would go into a new kind of orbit, a polar orbit, [an] irregular, or elliptical orbit and the crew will transfer into the lander. Now that is what is provided in the contract.”

“The article that you’re referring to is speculation. Well, what happens if they’re not ready? Well, naturally, people think about these things, but the plan is to land,” Nelson said.

This was only one of many topics that came up in the hearing: the Mars Return Mission, the status of the workforce at JPL, de-orbiting ISS in 2031 and others were raised as well.

To watch the entire hearing, click here: An Overview of the Budget Proposal for NASA for Fiscal Year 2025