NASA targets 2027 Artemis III docking test in Earth orbit

NASA plans to use Artemis III as an Earth-orbit test of docking between its Orion spacecraft and lunar landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin, Administrator Jared Isaacman said October 23. The roughly two-week mission is targeted for summer 2027 and will not travel to the Moon. Its results will inform NASA’s planned crewed lunar landing on Artemis IV, no earlier than 2028. Artemis III was previously planned as a crewed landing mission but was reconfigured as a test of systems needed for future lunar flights. NASA expects four astronauts to fly aboard Orion and attempt dockings with Blue Origin’s Blue Moon and SpaceX’s Starship. The crew will not enter Starship during its part of the test, according to NASA program manager Jeremy Parsons. Parsons described a sequence in which Blue Moon would launch first aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. Orion would then dock with it and test guidance, navigation and communications systems. Starship would launch later in the mission, after which Orion would adjust its orbit and attempt a second docking. NASA said the mission’s optimal duration is 14 days, with the possibility of extending it to 17 days if needed. NASA has not chosen which...