Overview
- NASA’s update Wednesday set Artemis III as a crewed low Earth orbit mission to practice rendezvous and docking with lander pathfinders instead of attempting a lunar landing.
- The SLS will fly with a non-propulsive spacer in place of its upper stage, which frees the last Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for Artemis IV and leaves Orion’s service module to circularize orbit near 463 kilometers.
- The rocket campaign advanced as technicians raised the Artemis III core stage upright in Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building on Sunday, starting vertical integration in High Bay 2.
- NASA plans three launches for the rehearsal, with Orion carrying four astronauts and separate flights sending SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon test vehicles that could inform which lander supports the first surface mission.
- Mission details still in work include crew selection, whether astronauts will enter a lander test article, a first docking demo for Orion, an upgraded heat shield trial on reentry, and alternative ground communications without the Deep Space Network.