“NASA also is defining the concept of operations for the mission.”
NASA announced Wednesday that it will fly the Artemis III mission in low-Earth orbit and that it continues to target 2027 for this stepping-stone flight that will help land humans on the Moon.
The space agency chose the orbit close to Earth—as opposed to a higher orbit—because it would preserve the final remaining Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for launching the Artemis IV landing mission later this decade. Instead, NASA will use a “spacer” to simulate the mass and overall dimensions of an upper stage but without propulsive capabilities.
The additional information released this week follows a decision made by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman three months ago to shuffle the agency’s Artemis plans in order to accelerate a lunar landing.
Instead of landing on the Moon with Artemis III, the agency now plans to launch four astronauts inside the Orion spacecraft, on top of the Space Launch System rocket. In Earth orbit they will rendezvous with one, or both, of the vehicles under development to carry astronauts down to the lunar surface: SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2.
