Artemis III: Three rockets and two landers join forces in 14-day orbital test

NASA detailed a complex orbital test campaign on October 23 that will pit two commercial moon landers against each other before a planned 2028 lunar landing.

Program manager Jeremy Parsons presented the concept of operations at a press conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He described the mission as involving three of the most powerful rockets in the world and likely the most complicated launch campaign ever undertaken. The vehicles include NASA's Space Launch System, SpaceX's Starship, and Blue Origin's New Glenn.

The sequence begins with New Glenn carrying Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander into low Earth orbit. The Space Launch System then launches four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft. The crew consists of NASA's Randy Bresnik, Andre Douglas, and Frank Rubio, along with European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano. SLS will place Orion in a highly elliptical orbit ranging from 18 miles to 1,122 miles in altitude. The capsule will then adjust to a stable orbit of about 345 miles to manage thermal conditions.

The crew will spend two days checking Orion's systems before meeting Blue Moon on Flight Day 3 at an altitude of 273 miles. They will dock for two days to test environmental controls and life support systems. Around Flight Day 6, Starship will launch with a docking adapter. It will meet Orion on Flight Day 8 at about 237 miles. The crew will not enter Starship, but the two-hour encounter will provide data on docking forces. The mission will continue for another six to nine days before a parachute-aided ocean splashdown.

The nominal mission length is 14 days, though it could reach 17. The crew will evaluate survival suits and conduct health assessments. These tests will prepare for Artemis IV, which aims to land astronauts near the moon's south pole in 2028. That mission would mark the first crewed lunar touchdown since Apollo 17 in 1972.

NASA has not decided which lander will fly the 2028 mission. Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency is preserving options to give both partners the best chance at readiness. He noted that the agency has no intention of surrendering a viable path to the surface before data and schedule compels it to do so. Parsons said both providers are planning lunar landing missions in 2028. The launch date for Artemis III remains unclear, with NASA targeting summer next year despite a recent internal memo noting the mission is about 90 days behind schedule.