NASA details Artemis III mission profile and lander testing strategy
Jeremy Parsons outlines SLS progress, spacer simulator deployment, and contingency plans for lunar landers following New Glenn pad incident.
NASA has confirmed the crew for the Artemis III mission, targeting a launch window no earlier than summer 2027. The mission profile involves a low-Earth orbit rendezvous where the Orion spacecraft will dock with lunar landers developed by Blue Origin and SpaceX. To facilitate this, the agency is utilising a spacer manufactured by United Launch Alliance and Marshall Space Flight Centre as a simulator for the second stage, replacing the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage.
The Space Launch System rocket and mobile launcher are nearing completion of repairs, with approximately 90 per cent of work finished. Welding in the flame hole is expected to conclude by early July, allowing stacking operations to commence later that month. Jeremy Parsons, NASA’s Artemis program manager, confirmed that the boosters have arrived at the rotation processing surge facility and are being prepped for integration.
A spacer simulator is being manufactured to replace the ICPS upper stage, with delivery to Kennedy Space Center expected by December. Blue Origin’s lander test article will employ storable propellants for Earth orbit testing to mitigate risks, while SpaceX’s Starship will act as an uncrewed target to validate integrated stack control and avionics. The mission will operate in a circular orbit below 250 nautical miles at an inclination of -33 degrees to avoid orbital debris bands.
Parsons noted that Blue Origin is developing a second launch pad for New Glenn, approximately one year into development, to mitigate risks from the recent SLC-36 pad explosion. NASA is maintaining parallel contingency plans to launch the Blue Origin lander on alternative vehicles, such as Vulcan or Falcon Heavy, if New Glenn readiness is compromised. The agency emphasised that the test article will use a reaction control system rather than cryogenic BE-7 engines, as it will not perform a lunar landing.
Starship will not carry life support systems; its primary purpose is to test integrated stack control and avionics integration with Orion in low-Earth orbit. This approach allows NASA to buy down risk related to software-integrated stack control and environmental control and life support performance before the crewed lunar landing. Both providers can reach the target orbital parameters in a single launch, optimising the dual-launch campaign for Artemis IV and beyond.
