NASA to spend $20 billion to build a base on the moon

NASA is cancelling plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and ​will instead focus on constructing a base on the moon’s surface, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.

NASA is canceling plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and ​will instead use its components to construct a $20 billion ‌base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years, its new chief Jared Isaacman said on Tuesday.

Isaacman, who was sworn in at the agency ​in December, made the announcement at the opening of a ​day-long event at NASA’s Washington headquarters at which he ⁠outlined a raft of changes he is making to the agency’s ​flagship moon program Artemis.

“It should not really surprise anyone that we ​are pausing Gateway in its current form and focusing on infrastructure that supports sustained operations on the lunar surface,” Isaacman told delegates at the event.

The ​Lunar Gateway station, largely already built with contractors Northrop Grumman and ​Vantor, formerly Maxar, was meant to be a space station parked in a ‌lunar ⁠orbit. Repurposing the craft for a lunar surface base is not simple.

A full Moon is seen shining over NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) and Orion spacecraft, atop the mobile launcher, at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, in Fla., Feb. 1, 2026.Sam Lott / NASA“Despite some of the very real hardware and schedule challenges, we can repurpose equipment and international partner commitments to support surface and ​other program objectives,” ​Isaacman said.