Artemis III

Goal

• Practice the meeting and docking that every Moon landing will depend on, close to home in Earth orbit.
• Check that Orion and the landers can talk to each other, line up and lock together safely.
• Try out the new Axiom moonwalking suits.
• Give both lander makers a real test before NASA trusts one with a landing on Artemis IV.

The plan

1. One or both test landers launch first on their own rockets: SpaceX’s Starship HLS on Starship, and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 on New Glenn.
2. SLS launches Orion and its four astronauts into low Earth orbit. Unlike Artemis II, it doesn’t head for the Moon.
3. Orion finds a lander, flies up to it and docks. The crew run tests while the two are joined, then undock. If both landers fly, Orion repeats this with the second.
4. After about two weeks Orion comes home and splashes down in the Pacific.

Crew

• Randy BresnikCommander, NASA
• Luca ParmitanoPilot, European Space Agency
• Andre DouglasMission specialist, NASA
• Frank RubioMission specialist, NASA
• Bob HinesBackup, NASA