What we know and what we don’t about NASA Artemis III Objective
NASA is starting to sketch out some of the details of its planned 2027 Artemis III mission, but key questions, such as who its astronauts will be, have not yet been answered
After a nearly flawless last month Artemis II The mission sent a crew of four astronauts around the Moon and back, turning NASA’s attention completely toward its next test flight, Artemis III-The last planned step before landing humans on the Moon.
this week NASA released new details About this Artemis III The mission that follows helps outline some of what the agency is planning for this test flight. But key pieces of information, such as the identities of the mission’s astronauts, remain a mystery.
What do we know about Artemis III As yet
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Artemis III Expected to launch in late 2027. It was originally envisioned as a lunar landing mission, but in February NASA announced that the agency had canceled that idea in favor of a test that would be conducted in Earth orbit. During that test, NASA’s Orion crew capsule (the spacecraft that housed Artemis II (astronauts on their journey around the Moon) will attempt to dock with one or both of two potential vehicles the agency plans to use to land astronauts on the Moon.
Both vehicles, versions of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Lander and SpaceX’s Starship respectively, have never been tested in such a scenario. Still, in its latest form Artemis III In the news release, NASA said the mission’s astronauts could not only attempt to connect with the lander, but also attempt to leave the Orion capsule and enter the vehicle. This will enable the agency to simulate the transfers between spacecraft that would be necessary for a human landing.
“For the first time, NASA will coordinate a launch campaign that will include multiple spacecraft integrating new capabilities into Artemis operations,” Jeremy Parsons, acting assistant deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Moon to Mars Program Office, said in a statement. “We are integrating more partners and interrelated operations into this mission by design, which will help us learn how Orion, the crew, and ground teams interact with the hardware and teams of both lander providers before sending astronauts to the lunar surface and building a moon base there.”
According to new details, the Orion capsule will have an updated heat shield design that NASA says will reduce some of the risks involved in re-entering the atmosphere. And the crew will spend more time in this Orion capsule than they ever did Artemis II, Which lasted for about 10 days.
NASA has a rough plan for how the test will go: A Space Launch System rocket will launch an Orion capsule, carrying an unknown number of astronauts, into Earth orbit. Once there, the astronauts will attempt to dock the capsule with the lunar lander vehicle and conduct a series of other tests designed to assess the agency’s readiness to attempt a human Moon landing. This basic outline is similar in scope to Apollo 9, A 1969 mission in which a three-astronaut crew spent 10 days testing the spacecraft’s ability to land on the Moon from low-Earth orbit.
that we don’t know about Artemis III
NASA still has a lot to tell Artemis III, Including the target launch date, crew identity or mission duration. before, when Artemis III Conceived as a moon landing test, the mission was expected to last three to four weeks, according to the European Space Agency, but that timeline does not necessarily apply to the new scope.
And NASA has not disclosed whether there are other science experiments that the crew can conduct while in space or whether there will be other modifications inside the Orion capsule for their exploration and testing. Another unknown is what orbit the spacecraft will fly in—e.g. Apollo 9, This would be in low Earth orbit, but that could mean an altitude of 2,000 kilometers or more above the Earth’s surface.
It’s also unclear whether the two spacecraft Orion is supposed to dock with will be ready for testing by the end of 2027 — SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lunar lander are both delayed. So are Axiom Space’s next generation space suits, which Artemis III The crew has to conduct spacewalk tests outside their capsule. All three companies have repeatedly stressed that they will be ready when the time comes.
NASA says it will provide more details on these and other questions soon, so watch this space.
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