NASA is pressing pause on its planned Lunar Gateway space station, redirecting resources and attention toward putting astronauts on the Moon’s surface as fast as possible. The agency laid out the shift during its all-day “Ignition: NASA’s Plan for the Moon” event on March 24,

The American space agency has just announced some major changes to the lunar plans by the end of the decade and beyond.

But what should NASA do with hardware already built for the Gateway outpost? NASA spent close to $4.5 billion on developing a human-tended complex in orbit around the Moon since the Gateway program’s official start in 2019.

NASA added a new mission to its Artemis lunar program and laid out a faster launch cadence targeting astronauts’ return to the Moon by early 2028, while framing Artemis and Gateway as steps toward an enduring,

The first crewed mission of NASA's Artemis moon program may take off in a matter of days, with a launch window that opens on April 1, and as preparations are underway for that, the space agency is refocusing its plan to establish a human presence on the moon.

The agency is canceling plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and ​will instead use its components to construct the ‌base, NASA chief Jared Isaacman sai.

NASA pauses the Lunar Gateway program to focus on building a multi-phase Moon base through the Artemis program.

NASA announced a series of plans regarding lunar exploration on Tuesday, including that the previously-planned Gateway Space Station is being paused to support a base on the moon's surface.

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In an on-going overhaul of NASA's Artemis program, agency officials say it will take seven years to build a sophisticated base on the moon.