Put it in pencil: NASA’s Artemis III mission will launch no earlier than late 2027

Now it looks more like late 2027, at the earliest, for Artemis III.

“I have received responses from both vendors, SpaceX and Blue Origin, to meet our requirements for rendezvous, docking and interoperability testing of the two landers in late 2027 before a landing attempt in 2028,” Isaacman said Monday.

The two companies signed multibillion-dollar contracts to develop and deliver human-capable landers to NASA for the Artemis missions. Both vehicles must be refueled in space in order to fly to the Moon. This additional complexity is not required for an Earth orbit mission.

“Taxpayers are investing heavily in SpaceX and Blue Origin’s Human Landing System (HLS) capacity,” Isaacman said during a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee subcommittee responsible for NASA’s budget. “I would also appreciate it if these two companies also invested well beyond that.”

Starship and Blue Moon are each significantly larger than the Apollo lunar lander and could potentially be refueled on the Moon for multiple trips between the lunar surface and orbiting crew and cargo ships.

“It’s that capability that allows us to not only go back to the Moon, but actually build the lunar base, put a lot of mass, enough and affordably, to the surface, not to mention all the other applications that come from a rocket that you don’t have to throw away,” Isaacman said. “So we’re very grateful for that.”

Preparing Starship and Blue Moon for a human spaceflight mission presents great challenges. On Apollo 9, two astronauts performed a lunar module test, separating from the command module with the mission’s third crew member for more than six hours before reconnecting in low Earth orbit. For a similar test on Artemis III, Starship or Blue Moon, it would require an advanced, independent life support system, human-capable engines, cockpit and flight controls, and a docking mechanism. SpaceX and Blue Origin have released few details on the development and production status of these systems.

It is possible that NASA will embark on a less ambitious Artemis III mission, with a rendezvous and docking, but no independent crewed flight of the lunar lander. NASA leaders must decide on these options in the coming months, and their thinking will be informed by how quickly and successfully SpaceX moves forward with the flight of the next-generation Starship Version 3 rocket and Blue Origin’s planned uncrewed landing near the Moon’s south pole with the Blue Moon cargo lander.