NASA Will Announce New Artemis III Astronauts and an Update on Its Moon Program
The New York Times • • science
Key Points:
- NASA plans to announce the Artemis III crew on Tuesday, a mission aiming to return humans to the moon as part of the Artemis program, with a planned moon landing by 2028.
- The Artemis III crew will initially travel to low-Earth orbit by mid-2027 to test spacecraft rendezvous and docking with lunar landers developed by Blue Origin and SpaceX, rather than going to the moon directly.
- Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, intended to carry its lunar lander, exploded during a test fire on May 28, damaging its only launchpad and potentially causing significant delays to the Artemis III mission.
- NASA faces a choice to delay Artemis III if Blue Origin cannot repair the launchpad in time or proceed by testing maneuvers solely with SpaceX’s lunar lander, which has also experienced setbacks.
- NASA administrator Jared Isaacman will provide a “confidence update” on Artemis III during the crew announcement amid concerns about the program’s accelerated timeline.