SpaceTRC / Space Age / Return to the Moon
Half a century later, back on the road to the Moon.
In April 2026 four astronauts flew around the Moon for the first time since 1972. The US, China, India, private companies and Türkiye are all preparing lunar missions in the same decade. This file brings the programmes of the second Moon race and their current status together.
- Farthest humans have travelled
- 406,771 kmArtemis II, April 2026
- Artemis Accords
- 77 nationsTürkiye 71st signatory (31 Aug 2026)
- First Artemis landing
- 2028Artemis IV target
- AYAP-1 launch
- 2027Türkiye’s first lunar spacecraft
01 / Artemis II
Humans around the Moon after 53 years
Artemis II launched on SLS from Kennedy Space Center on 1 April 2026. Without landing, Orion looped behind the Moon on a free-return trajectory and splashed down in the Pacific off San Diego on 11 April, after 9 days and 1.5 hours.
Four astronauts, three firsts
Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialists Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen. Koch became the first woman, Glover the first Black astronaut and Hansen the first non-American to travel around the Moon.
Beyond Apollo 13
Orion reached 406,771 km from Earth, breaking Apollo 13’s 1970 record of 400,171 km. Closest approach to the lunar surface was about 6,545 km.
Not trouble-free
Launch slipped from February to April after a hydrogen leak. In flight a toilet vent line froze and a small helium leak appeared in the European Service Module. Because of heat-shield concerns, Orion flew a steeper direct entry.
02 / New plan
The Artemis map redrawn in 2026
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman restructured the programme in February–March 2026. The biggest change: Artemis III is no longer a Moon landing.
| Mission | Target | What it does | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artemis I | Nov–Dec 2022 | Uncrewed Orion in lunar orbit | Complete |
| Artemis II | 1–11 Apr 2026 | Crewed lunar flyby | Complete |
| Artemis III | Late 2027 at the earliest | Crewed test in low Earth orbit: Orion docks with a Blue Moon test vehicle, then a Starship test article. | Crew named June 2026 |
| Artemis IV | Early 2028 | First crewed landing since 1972 (Starship HLS or Blue Moon) | Planned |
| Artemis V | Late 2028 | Second landing and start of a lunar base | Planned |
Gateway is over
Development of the planned lunar-orbit station Gateway stopped in early 2026; the focus moved to a surface base for 2029–2036. Its propulsion module will be reused on a nuclear-electric spacecraft.
The rocket stays at Block 1
The more powerful Block 1B and Block 2 versions were cancelled. From Artemis V, the Centaur V upper stage will be used.
Starship and Blue Moon compete
As of September 2026 Starship HLS had not yet demonstrated in-orbit propellant transfer, and its uncrewed demo landing slipped to 2027. Blue Origin’s uncrewed Blue Moon MK1 is also set to fly on New Glenn in 2027.
Artemis III crew: Randy Bresnik (commander), Luca Parmitano (pilot, ESA), Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas.
03 / China
China: from the far side to a crewed landing
In 2024 Chang’e 6 brought back the first samples ever collected on the Moon’s far side. China aims to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030.
Chang’e 6
Launched 3 May 2024, landed in the far-side South Pole–Aitken basin on 1 June and returned samples to Earth on 25 June.
Chang’e 7
An orbiter, lander, rover and mini hopping probe to search for water ice at the south pole. Rolled out in August 2026 but postponed because “launch conditions were not met”. Carries payloads from Egypt, Russia, Thailand and Italy.
Long March 10, Mengzhou and Lanyue
A new rocket, crew capsule and lander for crewed landings. A suborbital abort test flew in February 2026; on the rocket’s first orbital flight in July 2026 the first stage was recovered at sea.
04 / Commercial landers
Companies are landing too, though not all succeed
| Mission | Company / country | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chandrayaan-3 | ISRO · India | Aug 2023 | Successful landing near the south pole |
| ispace Mission 1 | ispace · Japan | Apr 2023 | Landing failed |
| IM-1 Odysseus | Intuitive Machines · USA | Feb 2024 | Landed tilted, returned data |
| Blue Ghost 1 | Firefly · USA | 2 Mar 2025 | First fully successful commercial landing; all 10 NASA payloads returned data |
| IM-2 Athena | Intuitive Machines · USA | 6 Mar 2025 | Tipped over, mission ended after one day |
| ispace RESILIENCE | ispace · Japan | Jun 2025 | Hard landing |
India plans a sample return with Chandrayaan-4 around 2028 and the joint LUPEX mission with Japan in 2028–2029.
05 / Türkiye
AYAP-1: Türkiye’s first lunar spacecraft
TÜBİTAK UZAY announced on 15 September 2026 that integration was complete. The spacecraft entered environmental testing at TUSAŞ and is planned to launch from Kennedy Space Center in the first months of 2027.
A 3.5-tonne domestic craft
Orbit raising and end-of-mission manoeuvres use a domestic hybrid propulsion system developed with DeltaV — the first in-space test of a Turkish hybrid engine.
At least three months in polar orbit
After about two months of cruise, it will enter a polar orbit about 100 km above the Moon, operate for at least three months (up to 1.5 years) and then be brought down to the surface by controlled manoeuvres.
Four instruments
A domestic radiation calorimeter and dosimeter, a neutral-particle telescope built with the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and a narrow-angle radiometer built with Shenzhen University.
06 / Rules
Artemis Accords: whose rules apply on the Moon?
Launched by the US in 2020, the Artemis Accords set shared principles for peaceful exploration, data sharing, protecting heritage sites and resource use on the Moon and beyond. As of 19 October 2026, 77 nations have signed.
Türkiye signed on 31 August 2026. Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacır signed at NASA Headquarters, making Türkiye the 71st signatory. China and Russia have not joined; they lead a joint International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) project.