Nasa is adding an extra mission to its Artemis programme before it attempts to land astronauts on the Moon for the first time in half a century.
The original plan was to fly around the Moon for the Artemis II mission, which is currently scheduled for April, and then attempt a lunar landing with Artemis III in 2028.
Now Artemis III will stay closer to home - a crew will head to low-Earth orbit in 2027 to practice docking with a lunar lander.
Nasa said this additional flight would not slow down its return to the Moon - it is still aiming for 2028 for one or even two lunar landings in what will be Artemis IV and V.
Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman told a media briefing that he was adding an extra step to the Artemis programme because he did not want such long gaps between launches.
