NASA's new Artemis plan: Earth-orbit test, landing in 2028

NASA has redrawn its plan for returning astronauts to the Moon. At a briefing on 23 October, the agency said Artemis III will no longer try to land. Instead it becomes a 2027 test flight in Earth orbit, and the first crewed landing moves to 2028, NASA explains in its lander update and Artemis III mission overview.

Artemis III: a dress rehearsal close to home

The crew is Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas of NASA, plus ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano. Their mission is planned to last about 14 days, and it tests both commercial landers before anyone relies on them near the Moon:

• Blue Origin launches a Blue Moon Mark 2 test article first, into a circular orbit about 273 miles (440 km) up. It can wait there for up to 30 days.
• Orion follows on the SLS rocket a few days later. The crew docks with Blue Moon and spends about two days working inside it.
• SpaceX then launches a Starship V3 test article. Orion docks with it nose to nose for up to two hours, but the crew does not go inside.
• After up to five more days of tests, Orion splashes down in the Pacific off California.

That sequence lets NASA check docking, life support and crew procedures on both vehicles where a rescue or quick return is still possible. We covered the SLS boosters for this flight earlier.

The landing: whoever is ready first

NASA now targets a crewed landing near the lunar South Pole in 2028 and says it will fly whichever lander is ready first, with a second landing opportunity after that. Both companies still have to fly an uncrewed demonstration first. The surface plan includes two moonwalks of about two hours each in Axiom spacesuits.

The bigger change is the route. Orion and the landers will no longer meet in the distant, oval near-rectilinear halo orbit that Gateway was designed around:

• SpaceX will refuel Starship in Earth orbit with tanker and depot ships. Starship then docks with Orion near Earth and performs the burn that sends both to a low lunar orbit. NASA is modifying Orion for this.
• Blue Origin postpones in-space propellant transfer. Its Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha lander will instead use three transfer stages to reach an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon.

Contracts are being realigned to match. Neither lander is tied to a specific mission any more. SpaceX adds two crew-cabin demonstrations ("Cabin 1"), and Blue Origin adds tests with astronauts in the loop.

Why it matters

Splitting the hardest steps across more flights is slower on paper but less risky. The crew will have tested docking with real lander hardware before committing to a descent, and NASA keeps two landers competing for the first landing. Want to follow the missions yourself? Our beginner telescope guide and night-sky phone photography tips are a good start.