NASA Redefines Artemis III as an Earth-Orbit Docking Test
NASA says it and its commercial partners Blue Origin and SpaceX have streamlined lander designs and changed the concepts of operations for future crewed landers. The agency has redefined Artemis III to demonstrate rendezvous and docking between test versions of each company's lander and the Orion spacecraft in low Earth orbit next year.
For the accelerated 2028 landing mission, Blue Origin will defer propellant transfer and use three transfer stages to send its Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha Lander to the Moon.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
An Earth-orbit docking test is a sensible place to find out whether the hardware fits together before anyone commits to a lunar descent.
But it also means the mission called Artemis III is no longer a landing; it is a rehearsal in low Earth orbit.
Blue Origin's three transfer stages are a useful reminder that the Moon is a logistics problem before it is a rocket problem.