Nasa’s ambitious plan to return astronauts to the Moon in 2028 now heavily depends on two privately developed lunar landers – SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander. While both spacecraft are making progress, each still faces significant technical and testing milestones before they can safely carry astronauts to the lunar surface. The renewed focus on lunar landers comes shortly after the successful completion of the Artemis 2 mission, which sent astronauts around the Moon and back to Earth. Nasa is now preparing for the next stage of the Artemis program, aimed at landing humans on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo era. Under Nasa’s revised roadmap, Artemis 3 is now expected to conduct a crewed Earth-orbit rendezvous and docking test in late 2027 instead of attempting a direct lunar landing. A full Moon landing is currently targeted for Artemis 4 in late 2028.…