NASA pauses Gateway lunar space station project

March 24, 2026 / 7:02 PM

Jared Isaacman, NASA's chief

Sharjah 24 – AFP: NASA announced on Tuesday that it plans to "pause" its Gateway project, which aimed to build a space station in orbit around the Moon, and instead shift focus to developing infrastructure for a sustained lunar base.

Shift to lunar surface operations

Jared Isaacman, NASA chief, stated, "The agency intends to pause Gateway in its current form and shift focus to infrastructure that enables sustained surface operations." NASA plans to repurpose existing hardware and leverage international partnerships, including with the European Space Agency, to support these new objectives.

Artemis programme and lunar ambitions

The announcement follows a broader shake-up of NASA’s Artemis programme, which seeks to return Americans to the Moon and establish a long-term presence as a stepping stone to Mars. The Gateway project had faced criticism for being costly and potentially distracting from other lunar priorities.

Mission timeline updates

Despite the Gateway pause, NASA maintains its goal of returning astronauts to the Moon by 2028. The agency is adjusting its flight lineup to include a test mission to improve launch readiness, amid repeated delays to Artemis 2, now targeting early April for the first Moon flyby in over 50 years.