NASA offered new details Friday about an urgent effort to ready lunar landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX, along with the agency’s rocket and Orion spacecraft, for a crucial test mission next year. The campaign puts competing vehicles on a compressed path toward a crewed lunar landing in 2028.

NASA chief Jared Isaacman reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to launching the test in low-Earth orbit before attempting the lunar landing. “We will not delude ourselves into believing that more time, more money, and flying less will somehow make our work safer or more achievable,” Isaacman said.

Isaacman also warned contractors that NASA personnel would intervene when schedules slip. He said they would arrive not simply to observe or convene committees, but to work directly on solving problems.

Isaacman, appointed NASA administrator in February, changed the agency’s moon landing road map by adding the 2027 test mission. Called Artemis III, it would have landers from both companies practice docking with Orion just a few hundred miles above Earth.

The estimated 14 day mission would require three massive rocket launches. The crewed Orion spacecraft would also dock and undock multiple times with the experimental vehicles in a campaign Jeremy Parsons, manager of NASA’s Artemis Program, called “likely the most complicated launch campaign ever undertaken.”

Artemis III is intended to help NASA evaluate which lander could be used for Artemis IV. That mission is slated to mark the first astronaut landing on the moon since NASA’s Apollo program concluded in 1972.

SpaceX and Blue Origin are pursuing dramatically different designs. SpaceX plans to use Starship, which consists of the Super Heavy booster and a 171 foot tall upper spacecraft equipped with six engines.

The Starship spacecraft would operate as both the rocket’s upper stage and the lunar lander. The vehicle recently completed its first orbital test flight, but other flights have revealed reliability issues involving its Raptor engines.

NASA associate administrator Amit Kshatriya told CNN that “most of what they’re seeing now is issues impacting reuse.” He explained that those problems could affect SpaceX’s ability to reuse the craft and achieve cost savings, but do not necessarily mean Starship cannot support Artemis III.

SpaceX must complete the Starship prototype intended for Artemis III and demonstrate its landing legs and airlock. The company also plans to expand operations to two Florida launchpads and attempt the first transfer of fuel between two Starship vehicles in orbit.

That transfer of super chilled cryogenic propellants has never been completed between two vehicles in Earth orbit. The first demonstration is expected in early 2027, and the technology would be required to send Starship to the moon.

Previous expert estimates indicated a lunar landing could require between 10 and 40 refueling flights. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said six to eight launches would be needed, an estimate NASA officials confirmed Friday while noting that a final figure cannot be determined before propellant transfer testing.

Blue Origin’s 52 foot tall Blue Moon Mark 2 resembles a larger version of NASA’s Apollo era landers and is expected to launch inside the cargo bay of New Glenn. Blue Moon has not completed a test flight, and NASA said Mark 2 would need to dock with at least three boost stages before traveling to the moon.

Blue Origin had planned to launch the smaller cargo vehicle Blue Moon Mark 1 this year. Those plans were paused after a New Glenn rocket exploded during routine ground testing in May and destroyed the company’s Florida launch site.

The company must return New Glenn to flight, potentially by the end of the year, and launch the overdue Mark 1 test early next year. Hardware for the Blue Moon Mark 2 vehicle assigned to Artemis III is already under construction.

Neither company’s lander has carried a crew or docked with a spacecraft carrying astronauts. During Artemis III, the four astronauts aboard Orion are expected to enter Blue Moon Mark 2, which must be equipped with life support systems.

NASA does not plan the same exercise with Starship, citing SpaceX’s experience operating crewed Dragon vehicles. The agency believes it can adequately evaluate the company’s life support systems outside Artemis III.

NASA is also accelerating production and making design changes to the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. It approved a simplified and lighter version of Axiom’s moonwalking spacesuits for early lunar missions while the Houston based company continues developing a more advanced version.

After Artemis III, both landers are expected to make uncrewed lunar trips and practice landing. NASA has not selected the vehicle for Artemis IV, scheduled for early 2028, while Artemis V is planned for later that year, although the timeline is widely expected to shift.

Kshatriya acknowledged that moving quickly can create opportunities for mistakes, but said speed and care can coexist when attention remains on the most important issues. He also said NASA would make “no changes” to its procedures or engineering oversight of mission safety.