Hardware for NASA’s Artemis III mission is officially on the move. While engineers prepare the rocket and launch structures, NASA has also changed the mission’s flight plan to test critical systems in Earth orbit before returning to the Moon.
Work on the Artemis III launch vehicle is advancing this month. On April 20, NASA rolled out the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage from the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The 64.6 metres (212-foot) core, which holds the rocket’s main fuel tanks and four RS-25 engines, was loaded onto the Pegasus barge. It is now traveling to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final assembly.
At the same time, the mobile launcher used for the successful Artemis II launch is back inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The 115.8 metres (380-foot) structure completed its 6.44 kilometres (four-mile) trip from Launch Pad 39B on April 17. Teams are currently inspecting the launcher and fixing damage from the Artemis II liftoff. Once repairs are complete, the structure will be ready to stack the Artemis III rocket.
A new flight plan for Artemis III
While the hardware gets ready for a 2027 launch, the mission profile has changed. Artemis III will no longer land astronauts on the Moon. Instead, it will serve as a test flight in low Earth orbit (LEO). The return to the lunar surface is now scheduled for Artemis IV in 2028.
During the Artemis III mission, the crew will fly the Orion spacecraft and test docking with one or both of the commercial lunar landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. Astronauts will also test new spacesuits and check the life support systems while the spacecraft are connected in orbit.
Testing these steps in LEO is designed to make the actual lunar landing safer.
The “Ignition” strategy
This mission update is part of a broader NASA strategy called “Ignition,” which aims to begin building a permanent Moon base by 2030. To meet this timeline, NASA leaders decided to stop changing the SLS rocket’s design between missions.
By keeping a standard “Block 1” rocket design, NASA hopes to lower production risks and launch more often.
“After successful completion of the Artemis I flight test, the upcoming Artemis II flight test, and the new, more robust test approach to Artemis III, it is needlessly complicated to alter the configuration of the SLS and Orion stack to undertake subsequent Artemis missions,” said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya. “There is too much learning left on the table and too much development and production risk in front of us. Instead, we want to keep testing like we fly and have flown.”
The Ignition plan relies heavily on commercial partners. It includes a new $6 billion cargo program and contracts to deliver lunar rovers to the Moon’s South Pole by 2028.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman noted that standardizing the hardware is key to staying ahead of global competitors. “Standardizing vehicle configuration, increasing flight rate and progressing through objectives in a logical, phased approach, is how we achieved the near-impossible in 1969 and it is how we will do it again,” Isaacman said.