NASA’s Artemis program is being revamped. Here’s every proposed cut, cancellation, continuation, and change.

The Artemis II SLS rocket core stage being transported towards NASA’s Pegasus ferry barge near the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility. Image: NASA / Eric Bordelon / Michael DeMocker

The US Trump administration has released details of the FY2026 presidential budget request for NASA, which proposes a historic ~25% cut overall but continues support for the crewed Artemis II and Artemis III missions and most of its associated science elements — though purely because the US wants to land on the Moon before China attempts the same by 2030. I’ve compiled and contextualized a detailed rundown of the specific proposed cuts, cancellations, continuations, and changes to NASA’s Moon missions through this budget request from across its documents while also highlighting notable additional details from them. Support my writing if you appreciate my efforts and find it useful.

Proposed cuts and cancellations

• Cancel the “grossly expensive” SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft from Artemis IV onward in favor of commercial alternatives — whose exact form is as-yet unknown. The “Budget Request Summary” document notes that the “>$3 billion a year in savings from the transition to commercial systems will be reinvested in Moon to Mars activities.” To enable said commercial transportation systems, formally called the Commercial Moon to Mars (M2M) Infrastructure and Transportation Program, NASA wants to ingest $864 million…