Nasa has announced more details about its next Artemis mission, which is set to launch in the summer of 2027. The Artemis III mission will not head to the Moon. Instead four astronauts will fly to low Earth orbit where they will dock with two prototype lunar landers, one made by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company and the other by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
This will pave the way for the Artemis IV mission, currently scheduled for 2028, which will see astronauts land on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. Artemis III has been described by Nasa as the most complicated mission it's ever attempted. It involves four astronauts, three rocket launches, three different spacecraft and two dockings.
It will last for 14 days, although it could be extended to 17 days if needed. The first rocket to launch will be Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, blasting off from Florida. It will be carrying its prototype lander called Blue Moon.
No astronauts will be on board and the lander will be placed into low Earth orbit. Then Nasa's Space Launch System rocket will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying four Artemis III astronauts in the Orion capsule. This is the same type of rocket and spacecraft used for the Artemis II mission, which saw astronauts fly around the Moon and back to Earth.
Orion will also be placed into orbit around the Earth, and the crew will spend two days checking out their spacecraft. Then on day three of its flight, Orion will dock with the Blue Origin's Blue Moon. The crew will open the hatch and enter the lander, where they will spend two days checking out its systems.
On flight day six, SpaceX's huge Starship rocket will blast off, also from Florida. The upper stage of its rocket, called "the Ship" is the prototype lander (although it has not yet been fitted out as a lander and lacks life support systems) and this will be placed in low Earth orbit. Nasa's Orion spacecraft and its crew will undock from the Blue Moon lander and then dock with the SpaceX Ship.
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