NASA’s October 23 mission plan describes Artemis III as a planned 14-day, four-astronaut test in low Earth orbit in 2027, not a Moon landing. Orion will practice docking with test vehicles from Blue Origin and SpaceX, while the mission also includes crew-health assessments, biology research and work on future lunar-sample handling.
What NASA plans to test in orbit
NASA plans to launch three spacecraft on three rockets: Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 test article on New Glenn, Orion on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), and a Starship Version 3 test article from SpaceX. Blue Moon is scheduled to launch first. NASA plans to send Orion up days later, after confirming the Blue Moon vehicle is ready for joint operations, and to launch Starship later in the mission.
The four-person Orion crew NASA named is NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas, plus European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano. They are scheduled to practice rendezvous, docking and spacecraft operations before future crewed lunar landings.
Why the docking tests use different interfaces
The two dockings will test different ways for Orion to connect with a lander. Orion is planned to dock with a port beside Blue Moon’s crew cabin, then use its forward docking system to connect with the port at Starship’s nose. NASA says Starship has a shorter on-orbit lifetime than Blue Moon, which is why its launch is scheduled later.
After docking with Blue Moon, astronauts are expected to enter the test vehicle and spend about two days evaluating its cabin, controls, atmosphere, pressure and life-support systems. NASA describes this as its first opportunity to evaluate a commercial lunar lander with crew in space.
The Starship docking test is expected to last up to two hours. The astronauts will remain aboard Orion rather than enter Starship. NASA plans to assess how the docked spacecraft handle controllability, communications, integrated software, and docking and undocking.
The science and crew work around the dockings
NASA says Orion and its crew will have up to five additional days available in orbit after the Starship demonstration for further work. The planned activities include evaluations of Orion’s crew survival suits, docking sensors, acoustic and thermal measurements, human factors, and science and technology demonstrations.
Other planned investigations include a proof-of-concept study of crew health assessments when astronauts cannot communicate directly with mission control, a cellular-biology experiment, plant seeds, and observations of Earth and the Sun. NASA also plans to test concepts for transporting lunar samples to Earth, receiving them and moving them into curation facilities, alongside assessments of potential contamination considerations.
Orion is scheduled to return to Earth for a Pacific Ocean splashdown off California. NASA personnel and the U.S. Navy are to recover the spacecraft and crew.
The lunar goal that follows
NASA’s October 23 briefing described a planned return to the lunar surface in 2028. For background on the Artemis IV plan, see NeoTeo’s earlier coverage.
