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

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

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

Both companies have billion-dollar contracts to develop and deliver human-rated landers to NASA for use on Artemis missions. To fly to the Moon, both vehicles will have to be refueled in space. Earth orbit missions do not require this additional complexity.

“Taxpayers are making huge investments in both SpaceX and Blue Origin’s human landing system (HLS) capability,” Isaacman said at a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee subcommittee responsible for NASA’s budget. “I would also appreciate that both of those companies are making even better investments.”

Starship and Blue Moon are each significantly larger than the Apollo lunar landers, and could eventually be refueled to the Moon for multiple trips between crew and cargo carriers on the lunar surface and in orbit.

“This is the capability that allows us to not only go back to the Moon, but actually build a Moon base, put a lot of mass on the surface adequately and affordably, not to mention every other application coming from the rocket that you don’t have to throw away,” Isaacman said. “So we’re very grateful for that.”

There are steep challenges in preparing Starship and Blue Moon for human spaceflight missions. On Apollo 9, two astronauts carried the lunar module for testing, separated from the command module along with the mission’s third crew member for more than six hours before rejoining in low-Earth orbit. Similar testing on Artemis III, Starship or Blue Moon would require an advanced, independent life support system, human-rated engines, a cockpit and flight controls, and a docking mechanism. SpaceX and Blue Origin have released few details about where those systems are in development and production.

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