What we know – and what we don’t know – about NASA missions Artemis III assignment
NASA begins painting some details of its planned 2027 plan Artemis III mission, but key questions, such as who its astronauts will be, still remain unanswered.
By Claire Cameron edited by Jeanne Brner
NASA
After last month’s near-perfect Artemis II assignment sent a crew of four astronauts around the Moon and back, NASA’s attention is fully focused on its next test flight, Artemis III– the last planned step before humans land on the moon.
This week NASA released new details about the Artemis III mission which allows us to outline part of what the agency plans for this test flight. But key information, like the identity of the mission’s astronauts, remains a mystery.
What we know Artemis III So far
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Artemis III is expected to launch in late 2027. It was initially designed as a moon landing missionbut in February, NASA announced that the agency had abandoned this idea in favor of a test that would be carried out in Earth orbit. During this test, NASA’s Orion crew capsule (the spacecraft that housed the Artemis II astronauts on their journey around the moon) will attempt to dock with one or both of the possible vehicles the agency wants to use to land astronauts on the moon.
Both vehicles, versions of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander and SpaceX’s spacecraftrespectively, have never been tested in such a scenario. However, in its latest version Artemis III In a press release, NASA said the mission’s astronauts could not only attempt to dock with the lander, but also leave the Orion capsule and enter the vehicle. This would allow the agency to simulate the transfer between spacecraft that will be necessary for a human landing.
“For the first time, NASA will coordinate a launch campaign involving multiple spacecraft integrating new capabilities into Artemis operations,” Jeremy Parsons, acting deputy assistant administrator for NASA’s Moon to Mars program office, said in a statement. “We are integrating more partners and interdependent operations into this mission by design, which will help us understand how Orion, crew and ground teams all interact with hardware and teams from both lander providers before sending astronauts to the surface of the moon and building a lunar base there.”
The Orion capsule, according to new details, will have an updated heat shield design that NASA says will reduce some of the risks associated with reentry into the atmosphere. And the crew will spend more time in this Orion capsule than in Artemis II, which lasted about 10 days.
NASA has a rough plan for how the test will unfold: The Space Launch System rocket will launch an Orion capsule, carrying an undisclosed number of astronauts, into Earth orbit. Once there, astronauts will attempt to dock the capsule with a lunar landing vehicle and perform a series of other tests intended to assess the agency’s readiness to attempt a human moon landing. This basic diagram is similar in scope to Apollo 9, a 1969 mission in which a crew of three astronauts spent 10 days testing the spacecraft’s ability to land on the moon from the comfort of low Earth orbit.
What we don’t know Artemis III
There’s a lot NASA hasn’t revealed yet Artemis III including the target launch date, crew identity, or mission duration. Previously, when Artemis III was designed as a moon landing testthe mission was expected to last three to four weeks, according to the European Space Agency, but that timetable does not necessarily apply to the new scope.
And NASA hasn’t revealed whether there are other scientific experiments the crew could conduct in space or whether the Orion capsule will have other modifications inside that it can explore and try. Another unknown is the exact orbit in which the spacecraft will fly, as Apollo 9, it will be in low Earth orbit, but that could mean any altitude below about 2,000 kilometers from the Earth’s surface.
It’s also unclear whether the two spacecraft that Orion is supposed to dock with will be ready for testing by the end of 2027 – both spacecraft from SpaceX. Spacecraft and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lunar landers have faced delays. The same goes for Axiom Space’s next-generation spacesuits, which the Artemis III the crew is supposed to test during a spacewalk outside their capsule. All three companies have repeatedly insisted they will be ready when the time comes.
NASA says it will provide more details on these and other questions soon, so watch this space.
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