NASA is going back to the surface. Administrator Jared Isaacman announced Tuesday that the agency will abandon its planned Gateway space station — a multi-purpose outpost designed to orbit the moon — and redirect those resources toward building a permanent base on the lunar surface. The price tag: $20 billion over the next seven years.

Isaacman laid out the new direction at an all-day event called "Ignition" at NASA's Washington headquarters, with an audience of aerospace contractors, international space agency officials, and members of Congress. The overhaul reshapes the agency's entire Artemis program and reconfigures billions of dollars in existing contracts, all against the backdrop of a tightening race with China to establish a human presence on the moon.

"It should not really surprise anyone that we are pausing Gateway in its current form and focusing on infrastructure that supports sustained operations on the lunar surface," Isaacman said. He framed the surface base as the more practical path — a technology proving ground for eventual Mars missions and a way to establish a foothold that the United States would not give up.

The Gateway station had already been largely built by contractors Northrop Grumman and Lanteris Space Systems, a subsidiary of Intuitive Machines. Isaacman acknowledged the "very real hardware and schedule challenges" involved in repurposing that equipment for surface use, but said components and international partner commitments could be redirected to the new effort.

Three Phases to a Permanent Outpost

NASA's plan calls for construction in three distinct phases. The first centers on unmanned robotic missions using the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Rovers, instruments, and technology demonstrations will be delivered to the lunar surface to test mobility, power generation, communications, and navigation. Half of the $20 billion budget is earmarked for this initial phase.

Phase two transitions to semi-habitable infrastructure. Drawing on lessons from the early Artemis crewed missions, NASA will build logistics and support systems capable of sustaining recurring but limited astronaut stays. International partners are expected to contribute at this stage, including the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, which has developed a pressurized lunar rover.

The third phase delivers permanent habitation. As cargo-capable human landing systems come online, NASA will ship heavier infrastructure to the surface — habitation modules from the Italian Space Agency, a utility vehicle from the Canadian Space Agency, and additional contributions from other partners. Isaacman was direct about the timeline: "The moon base will not appear overnight."

The European Space Agency, which had been a partner on the now-shelved Gateway project, said it was "currently holding close consultations with its member states, international partners and European industry to assess the implications" of the announcement. The pivot leaves uncertain the future roles of Japan, Canada, and the ESA in the Artemis program, all three of which had committed to providing Gateway components.

Artemis Missions Accelerate

The restructuring extends to NASA's crewed flight schedule. Artemis II, the first mission to send astronauts around the moon since 1972, is now targeting an early April launch after multiple delays. The Space Launch System rocket was repositioned on the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida last week, and the four-person crew entered mandatory quarantine.

Beyond Artemis II, the agency is pushing to land astronauts on the surface by 2028. Artemis IV and Artemis V are both slated for that year. After Artemis V, Isaacman said he wants crewed landings happening every six months using at least two commercial carrier options, with the goal of increasing that frequency further.

Both SpaceX and Blue Origin hold contracts to develop lunar landers for the program, but both companies have fallen behind schedule. NASA's inspector general reported this month that SpaceX, selected for the first crewed lander in 2021, is roughly two years behind. Isaacman's team signaled flexibility — NASA will use whichever lander is ready first rather than sticking to a predetermined mission order.

Acting associate administrator Lori Glaze noted that SpaceX has been exploring modifications to its Starship lander design and that both companies may dock with the Orion capsule in a different orbit than originally planned before ferrying astronauts to the surface.

Nuclear Power Moves from Lab to Launchpad

Alongside the moon base, NASA disclosed plans to launch a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars before the end of 2028. The vehicle, called Space Reactor 1 Freedom, is designed to demonstrate nuclear electric propulsion in deep space — a capability NASA considers essential for future missions beyond the moon.

Once it reaches Mars, the spacecraft will deploy helicopters for surface exploration, building on the technology first proven by the Ingenuity helicopter that flew with NASA's Perseverance rover starting in 2021. Ingenuity was the first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planet.

NASA described the mission as a step toward bringing nuclear power and propulsion from the laboratory into operational space use. In January, the agency signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Energy to advance the deployment of nuclear reactors on the moon and in orbit by 2030. A nuclear reactor on the lunar surface is part of the long-term base plan.

The China Factor

Running underneath every element of Tuesday's announcement is the competition with Beijing. China is targeting a crewed moon landing by 2030. China and Russia have also outlined plans to build a nuclear power plant on the moon's south pole as part of their joint International Lunar Research Station, with a target date of 2036.

Isaacman did not mince words about the stakes. "The clock is running in this great-power competition, and success or failure will be measured in months, not years," he said. He told the assembled audience that American taxpayers have invested more than $100 billion in the country's return to the moon and that expectations are "rightfully very high."

He also pointed to bureaucratic inefficiency as a factor in the program's delays and cost overruns, saying his leadership team is working to cut red tape that has slowed progress. "They may be early, and recent history suggests we might be late," Isaacman said of America's competitors.

The Artemis program was first established during Trump's initial term in 2017, conceived as the successor to the Apollo missions that ended in 1972. More than half a century later, NASA is betting $20 billion and a drastically rewritten playbook on the idea that the next footprints on the moon will be American — and that this time, they will stay.