Artemis-3 Orbital Mission

NASA Artemis-3 Orbital Mission

Artemis III is an upcoming crewed spaceflight mission that will take place in low Earth orbit. Originally designated as the Artemis flight that took astronauts to the lunar surface, NASA announced a major change to the Artemis architecture on February 27, 2026. Artemis III will be an orbital mission, intended to demonstrate orbital operations with the two lunar landing systems built by Blue Origin and SpaceX. The mission is expected to launch in mid-2027.

Artemis III will carry out a series of objectives in low Earth orbit designed to demonstrate critical systems needed for future lunar landings, beginning with Artemis IV. During the mission, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will launch four crew members aboard the Orion spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

For this mission, the SLS will be modified to take astronants to Earth orbit, rather than to the Moon. The astronauts will travel in the Orion Crew System, but the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) upper stage of the system will be replaced by a spacer that will maintain the same dimensions and connection points as the ICPS. The SLS rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with four crew members. Crew members will be able to remain in orbit for up to 90 days.

Artemis III will orbit at a -33 degree inclination in a circular orbit, below 250 nautical miles. It will first unite with Blue Origin's MK-2 human landing system spacecraft. Astronauts will be able to enter the MK2 and spend two days inside, testing out systems and the lunar spacesuit. The MK-2 will depart. Next Orion will be docking with SpaceX's Starship human landing system. They will not enter the spacecraft.

This page will be updated as more information is available. For more details on the Blue Origin and SpaceX human landing systems, go to the Artemis Human Landing Systems page or Astra's home page for NASA's Artemis.

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The Crew

Announced on June 9, 2026, NASA named the astronauts that are launching aboard Artemis-3. NASA astronauts include commander Randy Bresnik, mission specialist Frank Rubio, mission specialist Andre Douglas, and from the European Space Agency (ESA), pilot Luca Parmitano.

Randy Bresnik flew on the STS-129 mission on the space shuttle Atlantis. He served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station for Expedition 52 and commander of Expedition 53.

Artemis-3 will be Frank Rubio's second spaceflight. He performed as a flight engineer aboard the ISS during Expedition 67, 68, and 69, setting a record for the longest single-duration spaceflight by an American astronaut spending 371 days in orbit.

Andre Douglas is making his first spaceflight. He served as Artemis-2 backup and also closeout crew member for Artemis-2 mission.

Representing European Space Agency (ESA), Luca Parmitano is making his third spaceflight. During his first mission, he was a flight engineer for Expedition 36 on the ISS. He served as commander of Expedition 61, the first Italian to do so.