NASA Details Complex Artemis III Test Flight Involving Three Rockets and Two Landers

NASA has released its most detailed look yet at the Artemis III mission, a test flight designed to prove out commercial moon landers before astronauts attempt a lunar landing. The agency presented the concept of operations on Oct. 23 during a press conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida that ran more than two hours.

Artemis program manager Jeremy Parsons said the mission involves "three of the most powerful rockets in the world" and "likely the most complicated launch campaign ever undertaken." The vehicles are NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's New Glenn, all launching from Florida's Space Coast.

The sequence begins with New Glenn, which is set to carry Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander into low Earth orbit. SLS follows, sending the crew aboard the Orion spacecraft. The four astronauts are NASA's Randy Bresnik, Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio, and the European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano.

According to Parsons, SLS will place Orion in a highly elliptical orbit ranging from 18 miles (29 kilometers) to 1,122 miles (1,806 km) in altitude. The capsule will then move itself to an orbit of about 345 miles (555 km). Parsons said this is largely about thermal stability, since Orion was built for deep space and the thermal environment is harsher in low Earth orbit.

The crew will spend two days checking Orion's systems before meeting Blue Moon on Flight Day 3 at an altitude of 273 miles (439 km). They will then spend two days docked, opening the hatch, entering the lander and evaluating its environmental controls and life support. Teams will also confirm the spacecraft can hold proper atmospheric pressure, test emergency scenarios and dual-vehicle control, and put Mission Control through its paces.

Around Flight Day 6, Starship is expected to launch with a specially built docking adapter on its nose. The 171-foot (52-meter) upper stage will meet Orion on Flight Day 8 at about 237 miles (381 km). That encounter will be shorter, roughly two hours, and the crew will not enter Starship. Parsons said it will still yield data on docking forces and how the vehicles push and work together.

Once Orion undocks from Starship, the mission continues for another six to nine days before a parachute-aided ocean splashdown. Nominal mission length is 14 days but could reach 17. The crew will evaluate survival suits, a task not completed during the 10-day Artemis II lunar flyby in April, and carry out health assessments, experiments and technology demonstrations.

The results are meant to prepare Artemis IV, which is planned to land astronauts near the moon's south pole in 2028. It would be the first crewed lunar touchdown since Apollo 17 in 1972. NASA has not decided which lander will fly that mission. Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency is preserving options to give both partners the best chance at readiness, adding, "We have no intention of surrendering a viable path to the surface before the data and schedule compels us to do so." Parsons said both providers are planning lunar landing missions in 2028. The profiles differ: with Blue Origin, Orion meets the lander in lunar orbit, while with SpaceX, Starship will likely dock with the capsule in Earth orbit and propel it toward the moon.

The launch date for Artemis III remains unclear. NASA is targeting summer of next year, but in an internal memo last month Isaacman told employees the mission was about 90 days behind schedule. Parsons cited the lunar lander supply chain as among the biggest challenges, though he and Isaacman both expressed confidence in working through the issues. "We're moving with real speed and purpose right now," Isaacman said.