How Artemis III Will Test Two Moon Landers in Earth Orbit Before Any Landing

NASA has laid out how Artemis III will work: a crewed test flight in Earth orbit, not a trip to the moon, that will try out hardware from both companies building lunar landers. The agency presented the plan on Oct. 23 at a press conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to Space.com.

Four astronauts will fly aboard the Orion spacecraft: NASA's Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas, and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency. NASA says the mission, planned for 2027, will practice the rendezvous, docking and living-in-space procedures needed when astronauts begin landing near the moon's south pole in 2028.

A flight built from three rockets

Earlier Artemis missions used only NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule. Artemis III is different. Three launches, all from Florida, are involved: Blue Origin's New Glenn, NASA's SLS and SpaceX's Starship. NASA's Artemis program manager, Jeremy Parsons, called it likely the most complicated launch campaign ever undertaken, Space.com reported.

The mission step by step

• First, the Blue Moon test article. Blue Origin launches a test version of its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander into a circular orbit about 273 miles above Earth. NASA says it can stay there for up to 30 days, which gives the schedule some flexibility.
• Days later, Orion launches. NASA plans to send Orion on SLS only days after the lander launch, once the lander is confirmed healthy. Orion first enters an elliptical orbit that runs from 18 miles to 1,122 miles above Earth, then maneuvers into an orbit of about 345 miles. Parsons said that step is about thermal stability, because Orion was built as a deep-space vehicle.
• Flight Day 3: docking with Blue Moon. After two days of checking out Orion, the crew meets the lander at an altitude of 273 miles. Over the next two days the astronauts open the hatch, enter the lander and evaluate its environmental controls and life support, and confirm it can hold the right pressure. Parsons said the teams will also test emergency scenarios and dual-vehicle control.
• Around Flight Day 6: Starship launches. Once the Blue Moon work is done, SpaceX launches a Starship Version 3 test article fitted with a special docking adapter on its nose.
• Flight Day 8: docking with Starship. Orion meets Starship at an altitude of about 237 miles, according to Space.com. The test lasts about two hours, and the crew will not enter Starship. The aim is to learn how the two vehicles control, communicate and push against each other when docked.
• Return. Artemis III continues for another six to nine days after Orion leaves Starship, then ends with a parachute-aided ocean splashdown. The planned length is 14 days, but it could last as long as 17.

What it means for the road to a moon landing

The two dockings are meant to show how Orion works with two very different lander designs. Orion docks to a port beside Blue Moon's crew cabin but uses its forward docking system to meet Starship's nose. NASA says this will be its first chance to evaluate a commercial lunar lander with a crew aboard, gathering data that cannot be collected on the ground.

Parsons said everything on the flight is designed to reduce risk, and that Earth orbit is a forgiving place to practice because the crew can come home much more quickly if something goes wrong. The crew will also evaluate their survival suits, which were not tested during the 10-day Artemis II flight around the moon in April, and carry out health assessments, experiments and technology demonstrations.

What is still undecided

NASA has not said which lander will fly on Artemis IV, the mission planned to land astronauts near the moon's south pole in 2028. That would be the first crewed touchdown since Apollo 17 in 1972. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency has no intention of giving up a viable path to the surface before data and schedule force a choice. Parsons said both companies are planning lunar landings in 2028. The two landings would work differently: with Blue Origin, Orion meets the lander in lunar orbit, while with SpaceX, Starship would likely dock with Orion in Earth orbit and push it toward the moon.

The launch date is also uncertain. NASA is targeting next summer, but Space.com reported that Isaacman told employees in an internal memo last month that Artemis III was about 90 days behind schedule. Parsons pointed to the supply chain for the landers as among the biggest challenges, though both he and Isaacman said NASA is confident it can work through the problems.

Around Prague, based on reporting by NASA, Space.com