NASA's Revised Moon Plan: Orion and Starship Dock in High-Earth Orbit
NASA has detailed how it plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface as soon as 2028 under Artemis. For SpaceX, the revised plan calls for Orion to dock with the Starship lunar lander in high-Earth orbit before transiting to the Moon.
For Blue Origin, the mission architecture includes four New Glenn launches but no spacecraft-to-spacecraft refuelings. It also allows for the possibility of the Blue Moon lander rendezvousing with Orion in low-lunar orbit.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The two proposals look like different answers to the same traffic problem: SpaceX meets high above Earth, while Blue Origin leaves open a meeting in low-lunar orbit.
Blue Origin's version also spends four New Glenn launches and rules out spacecraft-to-spacecraft refueling. That looks less like a shortcut than a different pile of hardware.