NASA has detailed how it plans to get astronauts back on the Moon by 2028, and the next step doesn't go to the Moon at all. At a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, October 23, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and other agency leaders laid out Artemis III, a crewed test mission in low Earth orbit set to launch in 2027.
"We're launching three spacecraft on three different rockets and testing how they operate together, something NASA has never attempted," said Jeremy Parsons, NASA's Artemis program manager. Ars Technica reports that NASA officials said they still expect to launch Artemis III by "summer" 2027.
The crew and the plan
NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas, along with ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano, will fly aboard Orion on a planned 14-day mission. The sequence, according to NASA:
- Blue Origin goes first. A test version of its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander launches into a circular orbit about 273 miles up, where it can wait for up to 30 days.
- Orion follows on SLS days later from Kennedy, then maneuvers to rendezvous and dock with Blue Moon. The crew will spend about two days inside the lander, checking its cabin, controls and life support.
- SpaceX launches a Starship Version 3 test article later in the mission, since it's designed for a shorter time in orbit. Orion docks with it for up to two hours, but the crew won't enter Starship.
- Up to five extra days follow for tests of spacesuits, docking sensors and other systems, before Orion splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
A changed path to the Moon
NASA also detailed revised plans for the landing missions. Orion and the landers will no longer meet in the near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon planned under the now-canceled Lunar Gateway. Instead, each lander gets its own approach:
- SpaceX's Starship lander will be refueled in low Earth orbit by a series of tanker Starships, then dock with Orion in Earth orbit and push the combined stack to low lunar orbit. NASA says it's modifying Orion so Starship can do that. Ars reports NASA officials declined to give a precise number of refueling launches.
- Blue Origin will skip propellant transfer for its first crewed landing, using three transfer stages to send the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander into an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon to meet Orion.
Ars Technica also reports that NASA is working with United Launch Alliance on an extended version of the Centaur V upper stage that would let Orion reach low lunar orbit on its own. "Getting Orion to low-Lunar orbit means solving propulsion and spacecraft integration problems that were left unaddressed for far too long," Isaacman said.
Who lands first is still open
Neither company has been assigned a specific landing mission. NASA says it will pick which provider goes first based on lander readiness, with the first landing, Artemis IV, targeted for 2028 near the Moon's South Pole and a second landing opportunity to follow. Two astronauts will descend while two stay aboard Orion, and NASA is targeting two Moonwalks of about two hours each, using spacesuits from Axiom Space. Both companies must fly an uncrewed demonstration mission before carrying crew.
