NASA Shares New Details on Artemis III Pre-Lunar Landing Mission

Astronauts enter a moon vehicle while in Earth orbit.

Jack Daleo

Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 10:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule sit atop a mobile launcher at Kennedy Space Center in Florida in March 2026. [Credit: NASA/Jim Ross]

Key Takeaways:

Artemis III has been re-designated from a lunar landing to a crucial orbital test mission in low-Earth orbit (LEO), designed to validate the Orion capsule's rendezvous and docking with Human Landing Systems (HLS) ahead of the first human lunar landing on Artemis IV in 2028.
NASA intends for both SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 2 HLS vehicles to participate in the Artemis III mission, demonstrating in-space docking with multiple commercial providers.
The mission will utilize a modified Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for its LEO profile and will test an upgraded Orion heat shield, although its full performance under lunar return conditions will only be verified on Artemis IV.
Significant challenges remain, including HLS providers' ability to meet NASA's mid-2027 timeline for Artemis III and the fact that key hardware will face its ultimate test under lunar mission stresses only on Artemis IV.

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Following the roaring success of NASA’s Artemis II mission, the space agency is devising plans for a final test flight before attempting to land the first humans on the moon in decades, as soon as 2028.

Whereas Artemis II sent four astronauts slingshotting around the moon and back—and farther from Earth than any human has ever ventured—Artemis III will stay in familiar Earth orbit. The mission is designed as a test of NASA’s Orion capsule’s ability to dock with the human landing system (HLS) that will deliver its crew to the lunar surface.