Lockheed Martin is shifting toward a more commercial model for the Orion spacecraft, including potential launches on rockets other than NASA's Space Launch System. This pivot comes amid budget pressures and a push for reusability to reduce costs. Company officials indicate readiness to provide Orion as a service to NASA.
The Orion spacecraft has been inextricably linked to NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket since Congress mandated its development about 15 years ago. Under traditional cost-plus contracts, NASA oversees the building and operation of both vehicles for missions to the Moon. However, Lockheed Martin, Orion's principal contractor, is now exploring ways to decouple the spacecraft from SLS to enhance commercial viability and cut expenses.
This change reflects evolving fiscal realities. The Trump administration's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal seeks to end funding for Orion and SLS after the Artemis III mission, leaving just two flights. Congress, however, advocates continuing operations through Artemis V. Anthony Byers, Lockheed's director of Strategy and Business Development, noted, "Given the President's Budget Request guidance... they're going to need to move to a commercial transportation option similar to commercial crew and cargo." He described Orion services as providing end-to-end missions, from launch to crew return.
Efforts to commercialize SLS itself have stalled. A 2022 joint venture by Boeing and Northrop Grumman, Deep Space Transport LLC, aimed to sell launches as a service but has not secured a NASA contract. With SLS launches exceeding $2 billion each, Lockheed is eyeing alternatives capable of handling Orion's 35-metric-ton launch mass, potentially including tug vehicles for lunar trajectories. Kirk Shireman, Lockheed's Orion program manager, said detailed compatibility studies remain pending: "Could you create architectures to fly on other vehicles? Yes... But when you start talking about those other environmental things, we have not done any of that work."
Reusability is central to cost control. NASA's Howard Hu explained the incremental approach: "We’re trying to crawl, then walk, then run into our reuse strategy." For Artemis II, the new spacecraft will reuse 11 avionics components from Artemis I. Artemis III and IV will be new builds, while Artemis V reuses about 250 components from Artemis II, and Artemis VI incorporates the primary structure and 3,000 components from Artemis III. Lockheed plans a fleet of three largely reusable vehicles debuting on Artemis III, IV, and V. Officials aim to halve production costs from Artemis II to V, with further 30% reductions in follow-on missions. The service module remains expendable, and full reusability like SpaceX's Starship is not the goal—prioritizing safety for deep-space crewed flights.
Orion remains NASA's only option for astronaut deep-space missions until alternatives like Starship mature, with its crewed debut slated for 2026.