73 Moon Landings, $20 Billion Base Plan: Inside NASA’s Lunar Mission Blueprint

NASA has released a document outlining one of its most ambitious space plans in decades, sketching a roadmap for dozens of lunar missions and a permanent human presence on the Moon.

Titled the “Moon Base User’s Guide”, the document was published in early April and details the challenges the agency must overcome to complete 73 planned lunar landings and build a long-term base.

The nine-page guide, described as a bare-bones outline, lists what NASA needs to achieve its “near-impossible” plans announced on March 24 at its “Ignition” event.

Rather than presenting a finished blueprint, the document reads as a compilation of unresolved challenges, highlighting significant gaps in current capabilities.

NASA is aiming to carry out a rapid series of robotic and uncrewed missions, including 21 lunar landings within the next three years, to lay the groundwork for a proposed $20 billion Moon base.

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These efforts are intended to support the first crewed missions, which are targeted for 2028.

The agency has also stated plans to launch a nuclear-powered “Freedom” spacecraft to Mars by the same year, underlining the broader scope of its deep space ambitions.

The scale of the programme remains striking. While the recent splashdown of Artemis II demonstrated NASA’s ability to send humans around the Moon, the new document underscores how much remains to be developed.

Key limitations identified include landing systems, habitation systems and power systems, effectively covering all aspects required for humans to land and live on the lunar surface.

Some of the technologies needed do not yet exist, while others require major upgrades.

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The roadmap places strong emphasis on speed, with NASA aiming to accelerate its pace of missions and make lunar landings more routine than in previous decades.

Acknowledging the scale of the challenge, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said at the 2026 Space Symposium in Colorado Springs on April 14 that the agency thrives when tackling difficult goals, reported Space.com.

The plan forms part of the wider Artemis programme, which has already faced delays and rising costs.

Despite recent progress, including the Artemis II mission, the document makes clear that substantial work remains before a permanent lunar base becomes a realistic goal.