If everything goes according to plan, 2027 will be the year in which the POT carry out the most complex mission in your history. Artemis III will send four astronauts to Earth orbit to test, on the same flight, the Orion ship and the two commercial lunar modules developed by Blue Origin and SpaceX. For about two weeks, the crew will have to meet and dock separately with Blue Moon and Starship before returning to Earth.
Artemis III will function as a rehearsal for the operations that NASA wants to carry out during Artemis IVthe planned mission to return astronauts to the lunar surface. Before attempting this, the agency needs to verify that Orion can work with both modules, its systems are compatible and the ground teams are capable of coordinating several launches from different facilities..
‘Artemis III will be a highly choreographed dancewith a demanding sequence of launches from several platforms and equally demanding mission operations for our ground and flight teams. This makes it one of the most complex and ambitious missions NASA has ever undertaken’explains Jeremy Parsonsprogram director Artemisin a recent update from the space agency about the mission.
The sequence will begin with the launch of Blue Moon using a rocket New Glenn from the Space Launch Complex 36 of Cape Canaveral. The Blue Origin module will be able to remain in orbit for up to 30 days, which will give time to check its status before authorizing the crew to leave.
The second launch will correspond to Space Launch System from platform 39B of the Kennedy Space Center. The rocket will send Orion and its four occupants to low Earth orbit, where the spacecraft It will rendezvous with Blue Moon and remain docked for about two days. Two astronauts will enter the module to test its environmental control systems, avionics and the connection between both ships.
Blue Moon will also transport a prototype of the extravehicular suit which will be used in future lunar missions. Engineers will analyze how it behaves inside the cabin and if it can be used normally in the available space.
When Orion and Blue Moon separate, SpaceX will launch Starship from one of the two platforms it builds in Florida. It has not yet been decided whether it will take off from 39A at the Kennedy Space Center or from the Complex 37 from Cape Canaveral.
Orion will dock with Starship for about a day, although astronauts will not be able to enter it. The version that will participate in Artemis III will not have a crew cabin and will be limited to testing communications, approach maneuvers and coupling systems between both vehicles.
Neither Blue Moon nor Starship will yet be the definitive versions capable of taking astronauts to the lunar surface. Blue Origin will send a test variant of its Blue Moon Mark 2while SpaceX will use the Starship Version 3still in development. Both companies must carry out before unmanned moon landings so that NASA can certify its vehicles.
‘SpaceX and Blue Origin have proposed a list of ambitious goals and targets intended to complement upcoming unmanned demonstration missions on the Moon. “This way we can acquire knowledge and confidence in both the ships and their launch vehicles before a manned moon landing,” he says. Steve Creechresponsible for the Artemis Human Landing System program, in the NASA publication.
The complexity of Artemis III is not limited to in-orbit operations. The three vehicles will take off using different rockets from various platforms, which will require coordinating the availability of facilities, monitoring equipment and shared resources such as nitrogen supply.
The precedents are scarce. The Soyuz T-15 became 1986 in the only manned mission to visit two space stations capable of hosting crews, Salyut 7 and Mir. Gemini 10 was attached to 1966 with a ship Agena and then he approached a second one, although without actually joining it. The missions STS-72 and STS-51A NASA’s shuttle operated with several satellites, but none required coordinating so many rockets and platforms.
After separating from Starship, Orion will begin its return to Earth. The capsule will land with parachutes in the Pacific Oceanoff the west coast of the United States. The success of all these operations will allow NASA to advance towards Artemis IV and prepare for the first return of astronauts to the lunar surface in more than half a century.