February 2026

1. 27 Fri
   NASA Overhauls Artemis: III Goes to Orbit, IV Gets the Moon

   NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced a fundamental restructuring of the Artemis program, turning Artemis III into a 2027 Earth-orbit rendezvous test with commercial lunar landers instead of the previously planned Moon landing. The first crewed lunar landing now falls to Artemis IV in early 2028, with Artemis V potentially adding a second landing that same year. NASA cited the need to accelerate SLS launch cadence and reduce per-mission risk.

   NASA Overhauls Artemis Architecture — III Moves to LEO Rendezvous, IV Gets the Landing
2. 22 Sun
   NASA Rolls Back Artemis II After Helium Flow Issue Detected

   A helium flow anomaly in the SLS upper stage on February 21 prompted NASA to roll the Artemis II stack back to the Vehicle Assembly Building. The crew was released from quarantine in Houston. Engineers need to determine the cause and make repairs before re-targeting a launch window, now no earlier than April.

   Artemis II Rolls Back to VAB After Helium Flow Issue

Headlines link to spaceflightnow.com. Summaries are ours, 1–2 lines; read the full story at the source.