Washington DC - NASA on Tuesday announced plans for a $20-billion base on the Moon, while suspending its plans to create the lunar orbital space station known as Gateway.

"The agency intends to pause Gateway in its current form and shift focus to infrastructure that enables sustained surface operations," NASA chief Jared Isaacman said in a statement.

"Despite challenges with some existing hardware, the agency will repurpose applicable equipment and leverage international partner commitments to support these objective."

It's the latest shake-up at NASA in the wake of changes to the Artemis program, which aims to send Americans back to the Moon and establish a long-term presence there, paving the way for eventual missions to Mars.

The Gateway orbital lunar station was meant to serve as a transfer point for astronauts headed to the Moon as well as a platform for research.

The suspension of the Gateway initiative isn't entirely surprising: some had criticized it as financially wasteful or a distraction from other lunar ambitions.

Putting it on hold will allow for the redirection of efforts and resources towards the construction of the base near the strategic south lunar pole, Isaacman explained, which was already a goal.

He said NASA now plans to spend $20 billion over the next seven years to construct the base over dozens of missions, "working together with commercial and international partners towards a deliberate and achievable plan."

"There will be an evolutionary path to building humanity's first permanent surface outpost beyond Earth, and we will take the world along with us."

The European Space Agency (ESA), among other international organizations, was a partner on the planned Gateway project.

Queried by AFP, the ESA said that it is "currently holding close consultations with its member states, international partners and European industry to assess the implications of this announcement."

Less than a month ago, Isaacman abruptly announced that NASA was reshuffling its Artemis program, which has suffered multiple delays in recent years. The project aims to ensure Americans can return to the Moon's surface by 2028.

That goal remains unchanged, but the US space agency is shifting its flight lineup to include a test mission before an eventual lunar landing to improve launch "muscle memory," said Isaacman, who became the head of NASA late last year.

That strategic revision came amid repeated delays to the Artemis 2 mission, which was originally due to launch as early as February. Now the target is early April. This project is meant to be the first flyby of the Moon in more than half a century.

During his first term, President Donald Trump announced he wanted Americans to set foot on the lunar surface once again.

China is pushing ahead with plans for its first crewed mission to the Moon by 2030.

The US effort depends in part on the progress of NASA's private partners.

SpaceX and Blue Origin, the respective space companies of dueling billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, are contracted to develop lunar landers used in the Artemis program.