10.04.2026
With Orion still flying, NASA is nearing key decisions about Artemis III
“One of the questions is what the initial orbit will be for Artemis III.”
An artist's concept of Blue Origin's Blue Moon lunar lander. Credit: Blue Origin
NASA’s Artemis II mission has yet to return to Earth—it will do so on Friday evening, splashing down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego—but the agency is already nearing some key decisions on the next Artemis mission.
The US space agency announced six weeks ago that it was modifying its Artemis timeline to insert a mission before beginning planned lunar landings. This new mission, designated Artemis III and intended to fly in Earth orbit rather than to the Moon, would attempt to “buy down” risk to give the lunar landing mission (now Artemis IV) a higher chance of success.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Tuesday afternoon that the space agency is debating about which orbit to fly Artemis III in before locking in a blueprint, noting that the first “senior level” Artemis III mission design discussion had taken place earlier in the day.
Where will it occur?
“One of the questions is what the initial orbit will be for Artemis III,” Isaacman said during a news conference. “Is it going to be LEO or HEO? There are pros and cons for each of them, for sure.”
Low-Earth orbit, or LEO, is designated as a distance of about 160 km to 2,000 km above the Earth’s surface. High-Earth orbit is considered to be greater than 36,000 km from the Earth’s surface, above geosynchronous orbit.
During Artemis III, the Orion spacecraft will launch (presumably with four astronauts) on a Space Launch System rocket from Florida. In Earth orbit, they will rendezvous with one or both of NASA’s Human Landing Systems. These are the Starship vehicle’s upper stage under development by SpaceX and a modified Blue Moon lander being built by Blue Origin.
A rendezvous in low-Earth orbit would potentially allow NASA to fly the SLS rocket without using an Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, or ICPS. This is valuable because it could then save this final remaining ICPS stage for the Artemis IV mission (for future SLS missions, NASA would use a Centaur V upper stage, also provided by United Launch Alliance). For an Artemis III mission in a higher orbit, however, NASA would need the ICPS to push Orion there.
A rendezvous in high-Earth orbit would better mimic thermal and other conditions near the Moon, and this might be a more benign environment for the Orion spacecraft, which is sensitive to thruster pluming and other thermal issues. High-Earth orbit would also provide a stiffer test for Orion’s modified heat shield.
The closest Apollo analog to this plan, the Apollo 9 mission, during which the Apollo spacecraft tested rendezvous with the Lunar Module, took place in low-Earth orbit between 200 and 500km.
What will Orion dock with?
The other major unknown is which of the lunar landers Orion will dock with. NASA’s preference is to perform a test with both Starship and Blue Moon to get good data on their performance and confidence in their handling.
Isaacman seemed to think this was possible for a mission in 2027. “There are a lot of things based on the information we have available today, from feedback from our vendors, that we know are achievable,” he said.
But that will depend on the readiness of Starship and Blue Moon. Starship V3, the latest generation of SpaceX’s massive rocket, is undergoing final testing before a debut launch that could take place in about a month. And Blue Origin’s initial Blue Moon Mk. 1 lander is, Isaacman said, “wrapping up” vacuum-chamber testing at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Isaacman said it is important for SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket to reach higher launch cadences to support not just Artemis III but many future missions to the lunar surface. NASA is clearly watching both closely.
“We’ll all have a sense of which path we’re going to go down based on launch cadence of our two HLS (human landing system) providers, both of which have launches coming up in the next month or less,” Isaacman said. “A big key to our strategy—to not just return to the Moon but to stay and build a base—is the rapid reusability of heavy-lift launch vehicles. The more they get experience doing that, the more options that are available to us for Artemis III.”
Quelle: arsTechnica
----
Update: 15.04.2026
.
NASA Invites Media to Rollout Event for Artemis III Moon Rocket Stage
NASA will roll the largest section of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, which will launch the second crewed Artemis mission, out of the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Monday, April 20. What’s called the top four-fifths of the SLS core stage – the section containing the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt – will be loaded on the agency’s Pegasus barge for delivery to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Media will have the opportunity to capture images and video, hear remarks from agency and industry leadership, and speak with NASA subject matter experts and Artemis industry partners as crews move the rocket stage to the Pegasus barge.
This event is open to U.S. media, who must apply by Wednesday, April 15. Interested media must contact Jonathan Deal at jonathan.e.deal@nasa.gov and Craig Betbeze at craig.c.betbeze@nasa.gov. Registered media will receive confirmation and additional information about the event by email. The agency’s media credentialing policy is available online.
Once at NASA Kennedy, teams will complete the stage outfitting and vertical integration before handing the hardware over to the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems Program that will handle stacking and launch preparations. The Artemis III SLS engine section and boat-tail, which protects the engines during launch, moved from the Space Systems Processing Facility at NASA Kennedy to the Vehicle Assembly Building in July 2025. The four core stage RS-25 engines are scheduled to ship from NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi no later than July 2026 for integration into the engine section.
The rocket stage with its four RS-25 engines will provide more than 2 million pounds of thrust to send astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft for the Artemis III mission. Artemis III currently is scheduled for launch in 2027, following the successful Artemis II test flight mission around the Moon that concluded April 10.
Building, assembling, and transporting the core stage is a collaborative process for NASA, Boeing, the core stage lead contractor, and lead RS-25 engines contractor L3Harris Technologies. The core stage is the backbone of the SLS rocket. All five major structures for the rocket stage are manufactured at NASA Michoud. By optimizing space at NASA Kennedy and NASA Michoud for production, integration, and outfitting, NASA and industry can streamline production for a standardized SLS configuration for NASA’s Artemis program.
The Artemis III mission will launch to Earth’s orbit American astronauts in the Orion spacecraft on top of the SLS rocket to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft needed to land astronauts on the Moon in 2028. The SLS rocket is the only rocket capable of sending Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.
Artemis III is the second crewed mission under the agency’s Artemis program, where NASA is sending astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface, and build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
Quelle: NASA
----
Update: 19.04.2026
.
NASA's giant crawler moves launch tower to prep for Artemis III moon mission
With sloth-like speed, NASA's mighty Crawler-Transporter 2 crept nearly imperceptibly into High Bay 3 at the Vehicle Assembly Building. Borne on its back: the 380-foot-tall mobile tower from the historic Artemis II moon-flyby launch.
The tremendous crawler completed its two-day commute from pad 39B to the VAB at 11:40 a.m. Friday, April 17, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. Though the launch tower weighs more than 11 million pounds, the crawler's 4.2-mile journey was nearly bullseye-accurate.
"We missed our mark by three-quarters of an inch. And that was because our laser malfunctioned," said John Giles, engineering operations manager for NASA’s crawler-transporters.
"So we had to back out a little bit and come back in," Giles said.
The Guinness World Records recognizes CT-2 as “the heaviest self-powered vehicle.” Pad 39B and the VAB are linked by a 130-foot-wide crawlerway. The crawler's treads roll along twin 40-foot lanes featuring 4 feet of crushed lime rock, topped by a layer of erosion-rounded river rock measuring 4 to 8 inches deep.
Top speed while loaded: 1 mph.
Giles described the Artemis II crawler operation as, "one of the best ones ever, as far as a rollback. Smooth. One quick stop."
That routine stop occurred when workers replaced a 55-gallon barrel filled with grease. The crawler utilizes a grease system that pumps the lubricant across various bearings, gears and sprockets. Giles said the trip between the VAB and pad 39B requires more than one barrel.
"This has been fantastic. So now, we start on things we can do better, things we can do faster. Try to get ready for rollout of Artemis III," Giles said.
NASA’s mobile launcher is now tucked inside the VAB ahead of rocket-stacking operations for Artemis III. Slated for liftoff sometime next year, that mission will launch astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft into orbit to test rendezvous and docking capabilities with lunar landers built by Blue Origin and/or SpaceX. NASA has yet to release specifics.
On Monday, April 20, in Louisiana, crews will roll the bulk of the huge core stage of the Artemis III Space Launch System rocket out of out of NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
The orange rocket core section — which contains the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank and forward skirt — will be transported onto NASA's Pegasus barge, which will embark on a voyage to KSC for vertical stacking inside the VAB.
In the immediate future, Giles said personnel will embark on a CT-2 crawler-corrosion-control project that should take six to eight weeks to complete.
Quelle: Florida Today
----
Update: 22.04.2026
.
NASA Rolls Out Artemis III Moon Rocket Core Stage
Following the recent successful test flight of NASA’s Artemis II mission around the Moon, NASA rolled out the core stage, or the largest section, of the agency’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket that will launch the crewed Artemis III mission in 2027. The stage departed from the agency’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans on Monday for shipment to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, marking key progress on the path to the agency’s first crewed lunar landing mission to the Moon under the Artemis program in two years.
Using highly specialized transporters, engineers maneuvered the top four-fifths of the SLS core stage, the section containing the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt, from inside NASA Michoud to the agency’s Pegasus barge for delivery to NASA Kennedy. After arrival, teams will complete the stage outfitting and vertical integration, and the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems Program will stack the rocket’s components in preparation for launch.
“Seeing this SLS rocket hardware roll out is a powerful reminder of our progress toward returning humans to the lunar surface,” said Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator, Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This is the backbone of Artemis III. As it heads to Florida for final integration, we are one step closer to testing the critical capabilities needed to land Americans on the Moon, and ultimately, paving the way for our first crewed missions to Mars.”
At 212 feet tall, the completed core stage will consist of the top four fifths of the rocket combined with its engine section. The top four-fifths include the two propellant tanks that collectively hold more than 733,000 gallons of super-chilled liquid propellant to fuel four RS-25 engines. During launch and flight, the fully integrated stage will operate for more than eight minutes, producing more than 2 million pounds of thrust to propel astronauts inside NASA’s Orion spacecraft into orbit.
Building, assembling, and transporting the core stage is a collaborative process for two of NASA’s prime contractors, Boeing and L3Harris Technologies. Boeing is responsible for the overall design and assembly of the core stage, and L3Harris manufactures the rocket’s RS-25 engines. Recent announcements by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman enabled the agency to standardize the SLS configuration, streamline operations, and optimize production to accelerate the Artemis program.
Next year’s Artemis III mission will launch astronauts to Earth’s orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft on top of SLS to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft needed to land Artemis IV astronauts on the Moon in 2028. NASA’s SLS is the only rocket capable of sending Orion, astronauts, and supplies to the Moon in a single launch.
As part of the Golden Age of innovation and exploration, NASA will send Artemis astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, establish an enduring human presence on the lunar surface, and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.
Quelle: NASA
----
Update: 29.04.2026
.
NASA’s Artemis Core Stage Arrives at Kennedy
The largest rocket section for NASA’s Artemis III mission arrived at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 27. The SLS (Space Launch System) core stage traveled 900 miles on the Pegasus barge from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans where the stage is manufactured, to complete assembly of the massive rocket at NASA Kennedy.
Teams will transport the top four-fifths of the 212-foot-long core stage, the section containing the liquid hydrogen tank, liquid oxygen tank, intertank, and forward skirt, on Tuesday, April 28 to NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building to join the previously delivered boat-tail and engine section in the facility’s High Bay 2 for outfitting and vertical integration to complete the full stage.
Artemis III will launch crew aboard the Orion spacecraft on top of the SLS rocket to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between Orion and commercial spacecraft needed to land astronauts on the Moon.
Watch a livestream of the unloading and transporting of the core stage to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA Kennedy beginning at approximately 8 a.m. April 28.
Quelle: NASA
+++
Artemis III rocket core stage arrives at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
On April 27, the Pegasus barge sailed into NASA's Kennedy Space Center with the core stage of the Artemis III rocket
Following NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's promise to increase the launch cadence of NASA’s SLS moon rocket, less than a month has passed between the launch of Artemis II and the arrival at Kennedy Space Center of the core stage for the Artemis III mission.
As poor weather moved through the area, NASA's Pegasus barge arrived at KSC Monday afternoon, carrying the massive orange core stage, which had been transported from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Work began early Tuesday to slowly offload the core stage from Pegasus and roll it into NASA's iconic Vehicle Assembly Building. Parts of the SLS’s solid rocket boosters are already at KSC.
But all this work is happening before the lunar landers, a key part of the Artemis III mission, are ready.
What's next for Artemis III
The Artemis III SLS (Space Launch System) rocket will now be stacked inside the VAB ahead of a planned launch in 2027. The mission will see the Orion spacecraft dock with either the SpaceX Starship HLS or Blue Origin Mark II lunar lander in low Earth orbit before a moon landing in 2028.
Isaacman recently presented a major overhaul of the Artemis mission lineup, delaying the moon landing to Artemis IV and changing the upcoming Artemis III to a less risky test docking in low Earth orbit.
This switch is also an effort to get the SLS rocket flying more frequently. Isaacman had said the gap between the uncrewed Artemis I launch in 2022 and the crewed Artemis II launch on April 1 was too long.
“That is a very complicated rocket, five private contractors — I don't know how many subcontractors in it — on decades old design hardware that people aren't as familiar with,” Isaacman said during an April 2026 full committee hearing on NASA’s budget proposal. “You need muscle memory to do that.”
The program also scrapped the over-budget Boeing-built Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) as well as the moon-orbiting Lunar Gateway in favor of a future moon base.
But he kept the plan to tap private companies to provide lunar landers, with Blue Origin and SpaceX winning the contracts.
“I think that people often ask what's different from the 1960s moon race versus the present? And there's certainly a lot of differences, but one of which is that the taxpayers don't have to foot the entire bill,” Isaacman said.
“You have some of the wealthiest individuals and companies in the world contributing their resources to a capability essential for American leadership in space, and, frankly, for all of humankind. And if they want to come and invest in launch infrastructure that can help enable a capability critical for national security, I welcome it.”
Ahead of Artemis III, Blue Origin and SpaceX lunar landers to be tested
While Blue Origin continues work on their uncrewed Mark I lander, it has not made its debut flight yet. Mark I will be the payload-carrying predecessor to the crewed Mark II variant tapped for Artemis.
Blue Origin’s lander will be launched on its New Glenn rocket, which just saw its third flight from Cape Canaveral, as well as its second first-stage booster landing and recovery.
That third flight did suffer an issue, as the rocket’s upper stage experienced a mishap where the AST SpaceMobile satellite it was carrying deployed in an off-nominal orbit, leading to the loss of the satellite.
Blue Origin and the FAA launched an investigation into the accident, causing fears among the space community of the upcoming Mark I lander being delayed.
Greg Autry, associate provost for space commercialization and strategy at the University of Central Florida told FLORIDA TODAY he does not consider the upper stage malfunction to be a large setback to Blue Origin.
“I think they’ll identify this issue to solve it, and you’ve got a super solid, capable rocket available for next year,” said Autry. “They’ll be able to launch their lander — if their lander is ready.”
Blue Origin’s CEO Dave Limp has been consistently posting about the testing progress being made with the first uncrewed Mark I lander, named Endurance.
Quelle: Florida Today