{"id":484794,"date":"2026-05-14T19:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T19:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/484794\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T19:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T19:22:12","slug":"nasa-reveals-new-details-about-artemis-3-and-its-a-bit-weird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/484794\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA Reveals New Details About Artemis 3\u2014and It’s a Bit Weird"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the Artemis 2<\/a> astronauts returned from their historic journey around the Moon, NASA quickly shifted its attention to Artemis 3<\/a>. Now, the agency has revealed some details from its preliminary flight plan. And, well, it\u2019s not exactly what we expected.<\/p>\n

Artemis 3, launching no earlier than late 2027, will aim to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft and lunar landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin, paving the way for the Artemis 4 crewed Moon landing. In a press release published<\/a> Wednesday, the agency said engineers have been evaluating mission profile options and operational considerations since February, when NASA revamped the Artemis program architecture<\/a> to reduce risk, increase launch cadence, and more effectively execute plans to establish a sustained lunar presence.<\/p>\n

Officials still have key decisions to make, but this update provides the clearest insight into the Artemis 3 flight plan yet. Some of the choices are quite surprising.<\/p>\n

SLS will fly without its upper stage <\/p>\n

During Artemis 3, NASA\u2019s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. A crew of four astronauts will be inside Orion. This is the same launch configuration NASA used for Artemis 2, but this time, SLS will fly without its Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).<\/p>\n

Before NASA began launching Artemis missions, United Launch Alliance manufactured three ICPS stages<\/a> for the agency. Two of them were used during Artemis 1 and Artemis 2, respectively, and now NASA only has one left. This stage of the rocket boosts Orion to a high-Earth orbit such that it can set course to the Moon, so the agency will definitely need it for Artemis 4. Fortunately, Artemis 3 can launch without it because the mission will not leave low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

For this mission, the SLS will launch with a \u201cspacer,\u201d according to NASA. It\u2019s kind of like a dummy ICPS\u2014it mimics the mass and overall dimensions of the upper stage without the propulsive capabilities. This should allow the agency to meet its \u201ctest like you fly\u201d objective without wasting its last ICPS.<\/p>\n

No crewed lander test, no problem <\/p>\n

Orion will launch separately from NASA\u2019s commercial landers, SpaceX\u2019s Starship Human Landing System (HLS), and Blue Origin\u2019s Blue Moon Mark 2 (MK2) lander. The final mission profile hinges on whether the two landers will be ready for a crewed demo flight by late 2027\u2014both are still in development.<\/p>\n

Plan A is to have Orion dock with each lander to allow the Artemis 3 astronauts to climb aboard and test them out. Plan B is to have them test only one if the other isn\u2019t mature enough yet. But the NASA release seems to suggest there is also a plan C.<\/p>\n

\u201cInformed by Blue Origin and SpaceX capabilities, NASA also is defining the concept of operations for the mission. While some decisions are yet to be determined, astronauts could potentially enter at least one lander test article,\u201d the release states.<\/p>\n

This implies that the Artemis 3 astronauts may not get to enter either lander, hinting at the possibility that neither will have viable life support systems by late 2027.<\/p>\n

NASA recently began using a prototype of Blue Origin\u2019s MK2 lander for Artemis 3 training and testing<\/a>, suggesting some degree of confidence that it could be ready on time. Blue Origin is also getting ready to launch a demonstration mission for the first iteration of that spacecraft, the Blue Moon Mark 1 (MK1) cargo lander<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, SpaceX said<\/a> in October that it had completed 49 milestones \u201ctied to developing the subsystems, infrastructure, and operations needed to land astronauts on the Moon.\u201d The biggest hurdle to HLS development is getting Starship V3 off the ground and accelerating its launch cadence, as HLS will essentially be a modified version of the V3 upper stage. The company plans<\/a> to launch its new rocket for the first time on May 19.<\/p>\n

More time aboard Orion than Artemis 2 <\/p>\n

Artemis 2 astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen lived inside Orion for 10 days as it flew around the far side of the Moon and back to Earth. Artemis 3 won\u2019t even leave low-Earth orbit, but according to NASA, the crew will inhabit Orion for a longer period of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crew will spend more time aboard Orion than during Artemis II, further advancing the evaluation of life support systems, and for the first time will demonstrate the docking system performance,\u201d the release states.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear exactly how long the Artemis 3 astronauts will be aboard Orion or why they will need so much time inside the spacecraft. This could have to do with the fact that the commercial landers are launching separately and may not be able to do so in quick succession. It could also be related to the level of testing the Artemis 3 astronauts will need to complete aboard the spacecraft.<\/p>\n

NASA should reveal more information about the mission profile as its target launch date approaches. Nearer-term missions will also offer some insight into lander readiness, namely next week\u2019s inaugural flight of Starship V3 and the MK1 Moon landing demonstration slated for later this year. Gizmodo will be following along every step of the way, so watch this space for more updates on all things Artemis 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the Artemis 2 astronauts returned from their historic journey around the Moon, NASA quickly shifted its attention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[13386,18,44948,19,17,1024,133,451,17940],"class_list":{"0":"post-484794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-artemis-3","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-human-spaceflight","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-nasa","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-space","16":"tag-the-moon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116574562278669633","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}