NASA plans Artemis III as a 14-day crewed mission in low Earth orbit in 2027. Orion is scheduled to dock first with Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 test article, then with SpaceX’s Starship Version 3 test article. The two planned encounters have different crew access and test objectives, and Artemis III is an orbital demonstration ahead of later crewed lunar missions.
Artemis III is planned as an orbital test
NASA names Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano as the four members of Orion’s planned crew. The mission’s purpose is to practice how Orion operates with the two lander test articles before future lunar missions.
What each docking is designed to assess
NASA plans to send the crew into Blue Moon Mark 2 after the first docking for about two days of evaluation. During the later Starship demonstration, which is planned to last up to two hours, the astronauts will stay aboard Orion.
| Test article | Sequence and crew access | Planned activity | NASA’s stated checks |
| Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 2 | First docking; crew plans to enter the test article | About two days of crew evaluation | Cabin, controls, atmosphere, pressure and life support, along with software, guidance, communications and joint operations |
| SpaceX Starship Version 3 test article | Second docking; crew stays aboard Orion | Docking demonstration of up to two hours | Control of the docked vehicles, communications, integrated software, and docking and undocking dynamics |
The dockings also use different interfaces. Orion is planned to connect to a port beside Blue Moon’s crew cabin. For Starship, Orion’s forward docking system is to align with the system at the vehicle’s nose. The Blue Moon phase includes a crew evaluation inside the test article; the Starship phase assesses how the docked vehicles operate while the crew remains in Orion.
NASA’s Artemis IV transfer concepts
NASA’s updated concepts for the 2028 lunar missions describe different routes for getting a lander and Orion toward the Moon. SpaceX’s concept gathers cryogenic propellant in low Earth orbit with multiple Starships; Starship HLS would then dock with Orion there and perform the trans-lunar injection burn, the maneuver that sends the spacecraft toward the Moon. Blue Origin’s concept defers propellant transfer and uses three transfer stages with Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha, with the stack departing for an elliptical polar lunar orbit.
| Provider | Current transfer concept |
| SpaceX | Multiple Starships aggregate cryogenic propellant in low Earth orbit; Starship HLS docks with Orion there and performs the trans-lunar injection burn. |
| Blue Origin | Three transfer stages work with Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha; the stack departs for an elliptical polar lunar orbit. |
NASA says neither provider has been assigned to a specific Artemis lunar landing mission. It says readiness will determine the provider for the first 2028 landing. For background on the broader landing plan, read NeoTeo’s earlier coverage of Artemis IV.
