Key Takeaways
- Artemis III is now planned as an Earth-orbit docking rehearsal rather than a lunar landing mission.
- SpaceX and Blue Origin must each complete an uncrewed lander demonstration before carrying astronauts.
- NASA will select the provider for the first planned 2028 landing based on readiness.
The mission that will not land
NASA has redrawn its road back to the Moon — and the mission that was supposed to carry astronauts to the surface no longer goes there.
Under the revised plan, Artemis III becomes a dress rehearsal in low Earth orbit: in 2027, Orion will practise rendezvous and docking with test versions of both commercial landers. The landers will no longer meet Orion in the distant near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency is working toward “the long-awaited return of American astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028” and establishing a Moon Base.
Two rivals, two very different plans
SpaceX has reworked its approach entirely. Its Starship lander will dock with Orion in Earth orbit, then fire the burn that pushes the combined stack toward low lunar orbit — a change NASA is modifying Orion to support. Starship will be fuelled in orbit by a chain of tanker Starships topping up a “depot” Starship, a technique SpaceX must demonstrate on an uncrewed flight.
Blue Origin is deferring in-orbit propellant transfer. Its Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha Lander will instead use three transfer stages to reach an elliptical polar orbit, from which two crew members descend to the lunar South Pole.
A race judged on readiness
Both companies must fly an uncrewed demonstration before anyone rides their lander down. NASA says it will choose which provider flies the first 2028 landing based on readiness.
The original contracts assigned Starship to Artemis III and IV and Blue Moon to Artemis V; now both providers are participating in Artemis III and neither is tied to a specific lunar landing. The first surface missions are planned around two roughly two-hour Moonwalks in Axiom spacesuits.
Image: NASA (public domain) — NASA's Orion spacecraft with Earth in the distance, photographed during the Artemis I mission.