NASA’s permanent Moon base plans start with three missions this year

NASA unveiled three upcoming Moon Base missions to the lunar South Pole, with payloads slated for later this year and in 2026 on Blue Origin, Astrobotic, and Intuitive Machines landers.

The agency also awarded rover development and delivery contracts to Astrolab, Lunar Outpost, and Blue Origin.

Firefly Aerospace was selected to build a spacecraft for four MoonFall drones, targeted for 2028.

The deals are meant to build the infrastructure and landing capabilities needed for a sustained human presence on the Moon and the planned Artemis crewed landing.