Blue Origin · Artemis Program · SpaceX · Ars Technica
NASA updates lander gears up for Moon landings, finally solves long-festering Orion issue
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During a lengthy news conference on Friday, NASA provided a detailed overview of how it plans to return astronauts to the lunar surface as soon as 2028 as part of its Artemis Program.
Key facts
- Under the concept of operations released Friday, a New Glenn rocket (this could be an expendable version of the smaller 7×2 variant of New Glenn, or a reusable 9×4 rocket) would launch three
- However, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said this of the estimate of 6 to 8 launches proffered by Musk: it was possible, but represented the “ultimate potential end state” of Starship
- The chart shared by NASA showed Orion docking with the Blue Moon lander in an elliptical lunar orbit, approximately 8,500 km above the Moon’s surface
- During the presentation on Friday, NASA officials said they continue to anticipate launching the Artemis III mission—a demonstration involving docking with both Blue Moon and Starship near Earth—by
Summary
Although much of the information behind these plans has been previously reported at Ars Technica and elsewhere, this marked the first time NASA has laid them out in detail and acknowledged some substantial changes in the architecture. Most notably, for SpaceX’s Starship vehicle, the revised plan calls for the Orion spacecraft to dock with the Starship lunar lander in high-Earth orbit before transiting to the Moon. During the presentation on Friday, NASA officials said they continue to anticipate launching the Artemis III mission—a demonstration involving docking with both Blue Moon and Starship near Earth—by “summer” 2027. “This is an achievable path we are on right now,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.