National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveils three-phase plan for permanent moon base; three missions planned for this year

Exam-focused facts from the 28 May 2026 current affairs briefing.

Key facts

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled a three-phase plan to establish a permanent moon base with a budget of USD 20 billion.
NASA aims to land astronauts on the moon in 2028 as part of the Artemis-III mission.
Moon Base-I mission, planned for later this year, will use Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander to deliver equipment including Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies and a Laser Retroreflective Array to the Shackleton Connecting Ridge.
Moon Base-II mission will deliver over 1,100 pounds of cargo on Astrobotic's Griffin lander, including Astrolab's FLIP rover.
Moon Base-III mission will carry NASA's Lunar Vertex science mission to study lunar swirls, along with payloads from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Korean Space Agency.