NASA Recasts Artemis III as 2027 Orbital Test, Pushing First Crew Moon Landing to 2028

NASA has rewritten the role of Artemis III, turning what had been expected as the program’s first crewed lunar landing into a 2027 astronaut mission in low-Earth orbit to test how Orion works with lunar lander hardware from both Blue Origin and SpaceX.

The revised plan, announced Oct. 23 in a public briefing and an agency article titled “NASA’s Artemis III Mission to Test Future Moon Lander Operations,” pushes the first crewed moon landing target to Artemis IV in 2028. Instead of heading for the lunar surface, Artemis III will fly a 14-day mission in Earth orbit, with schedule flexibility built in, focused on rehearsing the operations NASA says it must master before sending astronauts back to the moon.

That matters because NASA is explicitly treating Artemis III as a risk-reduction flight. The agency said the mission will test rendezvous, docking, habitation and operational procedures using commercial lunar lander test articles. In practical terms, NASA will use a crewed mission close to Earth to learn how its Orion spacecraft and astronauts interact with two very different lander designs before attempting a landing mission farther from home.

The campaign calls for three launches from Florida. First, Blue Origin will launch a Blue Moon Mark 2 test article into low-Earth orbit on its New Glenn rocket. A few days later, NASA will launch the Space Launch System carrying Orion and the Artemis III crew. Later in the campaign, SpaceX will launch a Starship Version 3 test article.

Once in orbit, Orion is slated to dock first with Blue Moon. The crew will open the hatch, enter the Blue Moon test article and spend about two days evaluating systems including life support, cabin environment and avionics. Orion will then reposition and later dock with the Starship test article. That demonstration is expected to last up to about two hours, and the crew will not enter Starship. NASA said the Starship portion is intended to assess controllability, communications, integrated software performance and docking dynamics. After both docking sequences, Orion could have up to five additional days for other tests, including suit checks, docking sensors, human-factors work, and science or technology demonstrations before reentry and splashdown.

NASA named the Artemis III prime crew on June 9. The astronauts are Randy Bresnik, the mission commander; Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency, the pilot; and mission specialists Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas.

The reworked mission reflects NASA’s broader lunar strategy of using two commercial human landing system providers. SpaceX was selected in 2021 as NASA’s first human lunar lander provider, and Blue Origin was chosen in 2023 as a second provider. That structure is why Artemis III is now set up to gather operational data on two different lander architectures rather than serve as a straightforward landing attempt. NASA’s own description draws a clear distinction between the two tests: Blue Moon includes a crew cabin and longer on-orbit loiter capability, while Starship is slated only for a brief docking demonstration on Artemis III, with no crew entry.

The shift also comes with a backdrop of persistent schedule and development concerns. A NASA Office of Inspector General audit published March 10 found that human landing system development challenges would delay Artemis launch dates and raised schedule and oversight concerns. On Oct. 22, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel also publicly raised concerns about Artemis IV and the maturity of key capabilities, especially in-space cryogenic propellant transfer, the process of moving super-cold fuel between spacecraft. Development milestones have been mixed: Blue Origin’s New Glenn, the planned launcher for Blue Moon, suffered a destructive static-fire explosion on May 28 that damaged the launch pad, while SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit for the first time on Flight 14 on Sept. 28.

NASA says the point of Artemis III’s new design is to learn as much as possible before committing a crew to a moon landing. As Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager, said in the agency’s Oct. 23 announcement: “Every piece of this mission in Earth orbit is designed to reduce risk before we put astronauts back on the Moon. … We’re launching three spacecraft on three different rockets and testing how they operate together — something NASA has never attempted. Every lesson we learn here gets us closer to landing on the Moon in 2028.”