NASA Confirms SpaceX and Blue Origin Will Dock Lunar Landers in Orbit Next Year
NASA says its Artemis III mission next summer will test docking with lunar landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin in Earth orbit, ahead of the planned 2028 moon landing.
NASA plans to send lunar landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin into a docking test in Earth orbit next summer, a step the agency says keeps its push to return astronauts to the moon on schedule. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Friday that the Artemis III mission remains on track for a launch next summer. The two-week flight will carry four astronauts, but it will stay in orbit around Earth rather than travel to the moon.
The mission will test how the crewed Orion capsule links up with the two companies' landing vehicles. Orion will first dock with Blue Origin's Blue Ghost at about 270 miles, or 435 kilometers, above Earth, then with SpaceX's Starship in a slightly lower orbit. Three launches from Cape Canaveral will be needed in quick succession to carry out the exercise. The crew includes three NASA astronauts and one Italian astronaut who will fly aboard Orion. Amit Kshatriya, NASA's associate administrator, said the test would be exciting to watch. "As a rocket nerd, it's going to be pretty awesome," he said.
The Artemis IV mission, which would be NASA's first crewed moon landing since Apollo, remains scheduled for 2028, Isaacman said. NASA has not yet chosen between SpaceX and Blue Origin for the Artemis IV lunar lander and says it will keep its options open as long as possible. The update came six months after the Artemis II flight, in which four astronauts flew around the moon, the first lunar trip by people in more than half a century.
Isaacman described the effort as a new space race with China, comparing it to the Cold War contest with the Soviet Union during the Apollo era. He said progress had been too slow in past years, leaving the United States closer to rivals than it needed to be. He said the agency is now moving faster by cutting endless meetings and bureaucratic delays, while SpaceX, Blue Origin and other contractors work around the clock to meet deadlines and NASA expands its workforce. He said the approach draws on Apollo's history rather than on tech-industry trends, noting that the agency moved from the Apollo 7 splashdown to Apollo 11 in just nine months. He made the remarks at a news conference at Kennedy Space Center.
NASA's planned moon base near the lunar south pole is also taking shape. The first launch tied to it is expected by the end of the year. Blue Origin, based in Pittsburgh, will attempt a second lunar landing after its first mission fizzled in 2024, this time aiming for the south polar region with a rover and other experiments. More landers, rovers and orbiters will follow, and officials say a lunar vehicle will already be in place before the first Artemis moonwalkers arrive.
To speed progress and reduce risk, the first moonwalkers will wear a lighter and less complex spacesuit than the one Axiom Space is developing for longer later excursions. Axiom will test these so-called sortie suits on the International Space Station next year. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who is part of the Artemis III crew, said building a long-term presence on the moon is far more demanding than the Apollo-style visits. "It is incredibly ambitious," Rubio told The Associated Press earlier this month. "One thing I've always believed and learned is don't bet against America."
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