NASA’s latest watchdog report throws fresh uncertainty over one of the most ambitious parts of the Artemis program: SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander.
A new audit from NASA’s Office of Inspector General says Starship still faces major technical hurdles and likely more delays before it can support a crewed moon landing. The report says SpaceX would have missed NASA’s earlier June 2027 lunar landing target, and while NASA’s updated Artemis architecture now points to a 2028 landing, it is still too early to know whether that revised schedule is realistic.
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Check Price on AmazonThat matters because Starship is central to NASA’s lunar return plan. SpaceX and Blue Origin both hold multibillion-dollar Human Landing System contracts to build spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts down to the Moon and back to lunar orbit. The OIG said NASA has managed costs reasonably well, but development timelines for both providers have slipped enough to threaten mission readiness.
The report points to one especially serious issue for SpaceX: in-orbit refueling. To get Starship to the Moon in its Artemis configuration, SpaceX must prove it can repeatedly transfer cryogenic propellant between vehicles in orbit, something the audit describes as a major technical challenge and Reuters characterized as unprecedented on this scale.
NASA and SpaceX have also delayed key Artemis IV lander milestone reviews. According to the audit, the preliminary design review is now expected in August 2026, while the critical design review has moved to June 2027, leaving limited schedule margin if additional test setbacks occur.
The OIG raised another uncomfortable point: crew rescue. While NASA is trying to reduce catastrophic risk, the watchdog said the agency still does not have the ability to rescue astronauts stranded in space or on the lunar surface if a life-threatening emergency unfolds during a lander mission.
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Check Price on AmazonBlue Origin is not in the clear either. The audit says the company’s Blue Moon lander is delayed by at least eight months and still needs to resolve design shortcomings identified during development, even as NASA looks for ways to accelerate both providers’ progress.
NASA’s revised Artemis plan adds a new low Earth orbit test mission in 2027, where astronauts would practice rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial landers before attempting a lunar landing in 2028. That extra mission is meant to reduce risk, but it also underlines how much technical uncertainty still surrounds the overall architecture.
The audit also says NASA and SpaceX remain at odds over how much manual control astronauts should have over Starship during landing operations. That disagreement may sound narrow, but it goes to the heart of how NASA balances automation, safety, and schedule pressure in a spacecraft that is already pushing the limits of what has been demonstrated in flight.
NASA said it agreed with the watchdog’s recommendations and is already taking steps to reduce further delays. But the broader message of the report is hard to miss: if Starship runs into more testing problems, the agency’s 2028 moon landing goal could slip again.