New Delhi: The Artemis III mission was supposed to see the return of humans on the surface of the Moon, but the entire Artemis Programme was revised by NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman two months ago, where the Artemis III mission was revealed as rendezvous and docking in Earth orbit, ahead of the Crewed Moon Landing with the Artemis IV mission. NASA has now revealed that it is rapidly moving to define the mission profile for the Artemis III mission, to test rendezvous and docking capabilities between the Orion spaceship and one or both commercial crewed Moon landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX.
The Artemis III mission will see a crew of four, encapsulated within the Orion spaceship, launching on a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with the interim cryogenic propulsion stage swapped out with a spacer that represents the mass and dimensions of the upper stage, without the propulsive capabilities. This is the stage that provides the necessary thrust to kick the Orion spaceship from Earth orbit towards the Moon, but is not needed on the Artemis III mission. In Orbit, the European service module will circularise the orbit, for the subsequent docking operations.
The Commercial Crew Moon Landers
The Orion spaceship will then dock with SpaceX Starship human landing system pathfinder, or Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 2 human landing system pathfinder. The concept of the operations of the mission will be further defined in consultation with Blue Origin and SpaceX. The crew will spend more time on board Orion than the Artemis II mission. This will be the first time that the docking system performance will be demonstrated, with the potential for astronauts on board to transfer between vehicles, as will be necessary on the crewed mission to the lunar surface. NASA will also test an upgraded heat shield that allows for more flexible and robust reentry profiles in future missions. Blue Origin recently sent NASA a prototype of its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander for crew training. NASA plans to launch the Artemis III mission next year.