NASA Redraws Artemis III as a Three-Ship Orbital Rehearsal, Not a Moon Landing Yet

NASA said this week that Artemis III, the mission long expected to put American astronauts back on the Moon, will instead fly as an orbital test in 2027, sending four astronauts into low Earth orbit rather than down to the lunar surface. The agency still targets a crewed landing near the Moon's south pole for 2028, according to its own announcement of the revised flight plan, though it has not said which numbered mission will carry it out. The agency says the goal is to retire risk on hardware from two competing companies before anyone attempts an actual landing.

Three spacecraft, three rockets

The mission will fly three spacecraft on three separate rockets, something NASA says it has never attempted. Blue Origin will launch a Blue Moon Mark 2 lander test article into a circular orbit roughly 273 miles up. Days later, the four-person crew will launch aboard Orion atop the Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center. After Orion docks with the Blue Moon vehicle, the crew will spend about two days evaluating its cabin, controls and life-support systems without actually landing in it. SpaceX will separately launch a Starship Version 3 test article into a lower orbit; Orion will dock with it for a test lasting up to two hours, checking its controllability, communications and software.

The crew assigned to the flight is commander Randy Bresnik, pilot Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, and mission specialists Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas. After the Starship demonstration, Orion can remain in orbit up to five more days for additional work before splashing down in the Pacific off the California coast.

The change follows Artemis II, the program's first crewed flight, which sent astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a free-return trip around the Moon in April 2026. NASA's Artemis program page still lists a lunar landing as the long-term goal, but the agency has repeatedly adjusted its timeline as both commercial landers have slipped behind schedule.

Jeremy Parsons, NASA's Artemis program manager, said the agency is "launching three spacecraft on three different rockets and testing how they operate together," adding that "every lesson we learn here gets us closer to landing on the Moon in 2028." The trade publication SpaceNews reported that NASA is deliberately keeping its launch-vehicle and lander options open, acknowledging the precursor mission is already running behind its original schedule.

NASA has not set a firm launch date beyond "2027," and officials have declined to say which company's lander, if either, will be ready first for an actual landing attempt.