NASA is targeting summer 2027 for Artemis III. It has not given a month or a day. The crew is Randy Bresnik (commander), Luca Parmitano (pilot), and Andre Douglas and Frank Rubio (mission specialists). Artemis III will not land on the Moon. It is a planned 14-day test flight in low Earth orbit, where the crew's Orion spacecraft will dock with test versions of the two Moon landers. NASA aims to land astronauts on the Moon in 2028.
For the full Artemis plan, see our Artemis program explainer.
When will Artemis III launch?
NASA says Artemis III launches in 2027. At a news conference on 23 October, NASA gave summer 2027 as the target. Asked whether that meant June or later, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman did not give a month.
In a September email to staff, Isaacman wrote that NASA was "~90 days broken against the Artemis III schedule", WESH reported. At the news conference, he said some of that time will be won back, while new problems will come up.
Here is how far the rocket had got by 13 October, NASA said:
- The twin solid rocket boosters were fully stacked on 30 September, inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- All four RS-25 engines were installed on the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage.
- In the coming months, NASA plans to roll a partly built "short stack" rocket to Launch Pad 39B for a fuelling test. The crew will rehearse launch day there.
Launch dates for new crewed missions often move, so treat summer 2027 as a target, not a date. That is our view.
Who is on the Artemis III crew?
NASA named the crew on 9 June 2026. Parmitano, of the European Space Agency (ESA), is the first ESA astronaut assigned to an Artemis mission, NASA said.
- Randy Bresnik, commander (NASA). His third spaceflight. He flew on the Space Shuttle mission STS-129 in 2009, then on Soyuz MS-05 to the International Space Station (ISS), where he served on Expedition 52 and commanded Expedition 53.
- Luca Parmitano, pilot (ESA). His third spaceflight. He flew to the ISS on a Soyuz in 2013 and on Soyuz MS-13 in 2019. He commanded Expedition 61, the first Italian to command the station.
- Andre Douglas, mission specialist (NASA). His first spaceflight. He joined NASA's 2021 astronaut class and was a backup and closeout crew member for Artemis II.
- Frank Rubio, mission specialist (NASA). His second spaceflight. He spent 371 days in space on Soyuz MS-22, from 21 September 2022 to 27 September 2023. NASA says that is the longest single spaceflight by an American astronaut.
Bob Hines, who piloted NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the ISS, is the backup crew member.
Will Artemis III land on the Moon?
No. Artemis III stays in low Earth orbit. Its job is to practise the meeting, docking and living-aboard steps that later crews will need when they land near the Moon's South Pole. That first landing is Artemis IV, which NASA plans for 2028.
What will the crew do on Artemis III?
NASA's mission plan runs in four steps:
- Blue Origin launches first. A test version of its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander goes into a circular orbit about 237 nautical miles (439 km) up. It can stay there for up to 30 days.
- Orion docks with Blue Moon. A few days later, SLS launches Orion and the crew from Kennedy. Orion moves up to a circular orbit of about 300 nautical miles, then meets the lander. The crew spends about two days docked, and goes inside Blue Moon to check its cabin, controls and life support.
- Orion docks with Starship. SpaceX launches a Starship Version 3 test article from Florida into an orbit of 206 nautical miles. Orion docks with it at Starship's nose for up to two hours. The crew does not go inside Starship.
- More tests, then home. Orion has up to five more days in orbit for tests and experiments. It then splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off California, where NASA and the US Navy recover the crew.
The Starship test article does not have a crew cabin. To learn more about SpaceX's rocket, read what is Starship? or see every Starship flight so far. Upcoming Starship flights are on our Starship launch tracker.
How is the crew training?
NASA's October update lists recent training:
- The crew tasted almost 200 menu items to choose their mission food.
- They practised escaping from an upside-down helicopter cabin under water.
- On 24 September they did hoist training with the US Navy in San Diego, practising water lifts by Navy helicopters.
