Landing the Moon

October 28, 2026: NASA's Artemis program is running on a continuing resolution that holds the agency at $24.4 billion and expires December 11, while the White House request is $18.8 billion and no FY2027 spending bill has been enacted. Hosts Max and Blake cover three topics: - The funding numbers: the stopgap, the request, and the roughly $5.5 billion gap between them, plus $6.7 billion in reconci...

October 21, 2026: A leaked memo reportedly says Artemis III has lost about 90 days. NASA's Friday, Oct. 23 briefing at Kennedy Space Center is the first chance to see whether there is a plan to recover them. Max and Blake set their grading rubrics before it happens. - The memo baseline: Artemis III on the pad in summer 2027 at best, up to two 2028 landings, and a conditional single late-2028 attem...

October 14, 2026: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's September 20 memo reportedly says Artemis III is running about 90 days behind schedule. Max and Blake work through what is known, noting that the memo is covered here through a secondary recap and that the 90 days has no public breakdown. Topics discussed: - Hardware: the memo's focus on valves, thrust vector control actuators and landers, back...

September 30, 2026: This episode examines the May 28 New Glenn explosion during a hotfire test at Launch Complex 36, attributed to a BE-4 valve, and what it means for NASA's Artemis plans. LC-36 is Blue Origin's only pad, so downtime delays proving the rocket. - Pad rebuild: Blue Origin targets a return to flight by the end of 2026. Max sees the early start as a sign of credibility, while Blake pr...

On September 23, 2026, Landing the Moon breaks down a new NASA inspector general report (IG-26-006) warning that the AxEMU spacesuit has little to no schedule margin left before Artemis III's 2028 target. Hosts Max and Blake weigh Axiom's claim of over 700 crewed pressurized testing hours in the NBL pool against the IG's historical-average data, which suggests comparable suit programs typically ta...

On September 16, 2026, Landing the Moon reviews a new safety report on Orion's propulsion system, revealing a helium leak that requires a redesign before Artemis III can fly. Hosts Max and Blake break down NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel findings, starting with confirmation that Orion's heat shield fix worked as intended, then turning to the more troubling news: an in-flight helium leak run...

Recorded September 9, 2026, this episode of Landing the Moon breaks down SpaceX's push for Starship's first real orbital insertion on Flight 14, targeting a September 15 launch with Booster 21 and Ship 41. Max and Blake dig into why this attempt matters more than previous suborbital hops, and how it connects directly to NASA's Artemis III timeline through the HLS lunar lander's propellant transfer...

Recorded September 2, 2026, this episode of Landing the Moon covers the newly announced early-September target for Starship Flight 14, following Jared Isaacman's remarks at Kennedy Space Center and completed static fires on Ship 41 and Booster 21. Max and Blake dig into what actually changed since the last episode: two separate static-fire tests, an FCC filing pointing to Starlink V3 satellites as...

August 26, 2026 — This episode breaks down why SpaceX quietly dropped the plan to try a Starship ship catch on Flight 14 and what that means for Artemis III timing. The hosts unpack how the September 15th Starship Flight 14 date emerged from FAA filings and airspace closures, then walk through the current status of Ship 41 and Booster 21, including recent static fires and extended preflight work i...

On this episode, published August 19, 2026, Max and Blake cover the restructuring of Artemis III into a Blue Moon MK2 docking demonstration rather than a lunar landing, a change that reshapes the mission's near-term goals. They also examine SpaceX's 24-day ocean tow of Starship Ship 40 to Christmas Island, the split results of Flight 13 (a clean 33-engine liftoff paired with Booster 20's rough 10-...

Recorded July 29, 2026, this episode of Landing the Moon breaks down Starship Flight 13, which launched July 24 on its third attempt and deployed 20 Starlink V3 satellites in the vehicle's first operational payload drop. Booster 20 nailed its boostback burn but lost the landing burn and crashed into the Gulf, and Max and Blake dig into conflicting engine-count reports on that failure and why the F...

On July 22, 2026, Max and Blake cover Starship Flight 13's T-0 abort, where four of thirty-three Raptor 3 engines failed to ignite, prompting SpaceX to swap two engines before a July 23 relaunch attempt. The hosts break down the ignition physics behind the failure, the skipped in-space Raptor relight and its direct link to Artemis IV's 2028 crewed lunar landing timeline through HLS propellant tran...

On July 8, 2026, Max and Blake examine NASA's ship-to-ship propellant transfer demo, the hardware milestone that must fly before design certification review can begin for Starship HLS. They also unpack SpaceX's Nasdaq-100 inclusion, which briefly pushed Elon Musk's fortune into trillionaire territory, and question whether the tiny tradeable float behind that surge has any real connection to Starsh...

June 24, 2026. The single most important Artemis development covered today: NASA's Starship HLS ship-to-ship propellant transfer demo has slipped roughly 15 months, with no confirmed launch date and Wikipedia's own Starship HLS article still listing the test as only optimistically scheduled for 2026. Without this demo, the design certification review cannot clear, and the $2.28 billion HLS congres...

June 17, 2026. The May 28 static-fire explosion that destroyed Blue Origin's NG-4 vehicle and gutted LC-36 — the company's only orbital launch pad — now threatens the entire Artemis lunar landing sequence. Max and Blake examine three specific problems the disaster created: the physical incompatibility between the Blue Moon Mk.1 lander and any available replacement rocket, the missing liquid hydrog...

June 10, 2026. Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded during a static fire test at LC-36 on May 28th, destroying the transporter-erector and raising serious questions about the Artemis III timeline. Max and Blake dig into what that means for the Blue Moon Mk.1 lander, including why moving it to Falcon Heavy isn't a simple fix — the BE-7 engine's liquid hydrogen requirement makes LC-39A a non-star...

June 3, 2026. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher's op-ed demanding that Europe stop being a passenger in NASA's decisions sets the tone for this episode of Landing the Moon, as Max and Blake examine how the Artemis alliance is straining under repeated unilateral architecture changes. Max and Blake work through three converging pressure points: the White House FY2027 budget request cutting NASA...

June 3, 2026. NASA's inspector general projects the Artemis lunar spacesuit may not be ready until 2031 — three years after the planned 2028 Moon landing. Max and Blake break down OIG report IG-26-006 and what it means for the AxEMU program. The episode covers three specific areas: Collins Aerospace's 2024 exit after spending $37 million of NASA's money, leaving Axiom as the sole xEVAS contractor;...

May 28, 2026 — Artemis III has been restructured from a lunar landing to an Earth-orbit docking test targeting late 2027, and this episode breaks down what that shift actually means ahead of NASA's June 9 crew announcement. Max and Blake cover three specific areas: the engineering logic behind flying a non-propulsive spacer in place of the ICPS, the real readiness of Starship HLS and Blue Moon aga...