NASA has a sense of timing. After putting stars in our eyes at the beginning of April with the lunar journey of Artemis 2, the American space agency did not wait long to build up the hype by announcing, on Tuesday evening, the names of the four astronauts – five including the reservist – for the next lunar mission. Scheduled for 2027, it will not fly over the Moon but will remain in Earth orbit to test the systems and rendezvous with private landers.
We take stock of this crucial mission before the Americans return to the Moon, planned for 2028 during Artemis 4.
The astronauts
The crew that will fly aboard the SLS rocket was revealed Tuesday during a press conference from the NASA center in Houston, Texas. The mission commander will be Randy Bresnik, an astronaut since 2004. He has already flown twice in the International Space Station (ISS), in 2009 and 2017. Big news, an Italian – the first European to participate in a lunar mission – will also be on the trip. The experienced Luca Parmitano, from the same class as Thomas Pesquet and for whom this will be the third flight into space, was assigned to the role of pilot.
As for the two mission specialists, NASA chose Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas. The first broke the record for the longest consecutive stay for an American astronaut by spending 371 days in orbit in the ISS during his only mission, in 2022-2023. The second will be the “novice” of the crew, selected by the American space agency in 2021 and of which Artemis 3 will be the first flight.
Another astronaut has also been selected as a reserve crew member, who will only take off if one of his colleagues is unable to carry out his mission. This is the American Bob Hines, who will train with the rest of the crew throughout their training.
A mission in Earth orbit
Unlike Artemis 2, Artemis 3 will remain in low Earth orbit. However, it should be spectacular: it will require the launch of three different rockets in a very short time. The first machine to take off will be the Blue Origin moon lander, the other service provider selected by NASA with SpaceX to provide this essential machine for future lunar missions. Capable of remaining in orbit for several weeks, it will wait for the astronauts who will join it thanks to the SLS and the Orion capsule.
A key moment of the mission, the crew will rendezvous with the moon lander then dock there for around two days, during which they will conduct numerous tests and demonstrations and enter the lander. Once this step has been completed, the Orion capsule will detach from the Blue Origin craft and wait for SpaceX’s Starship. This will be launched and will meet the astronauts, who will one day dock with the second lander.
The crew will then leave the Starship to return to Earth, with a planned landing in the Pacific Ocean. NASA has indicated that the mission is planned to last approximately two weeks, a timing which will be adjusted in real time depending on the launch, the rendezvous procedures between the different spacecraft and the operations when they are docked.
A revamped mission
If this mission seems promising, Earth orbit was not its initial destination. Until the beginning of the year, Artemis 3 was planned as THE mission worthy of Apollo 11: the one which was to mark the return of the Americans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. But everything changed on February 27, when NASA announced adding an additional mission before the long-awaited moon landing, pushing it back to Artemis 4 in 2028.
To justify this change of plans, the American space agency puts forward the need to prepare the ground for more regular launches and reduction of risks. After technical problems noted on the SLS rocket, which led to the postponement of the launch of Artemis 2, the agency wants to ensure that everything works and that as many systems as possible have been tested before the big departure, thus getting closer to the method of the Apollo program.
Where are we today?
While NASA announced that the crew would “immediately begin training on the systems of the Orion spacecraft”, the space agency’s teams are also working hard to ensure the mission is ready on time. On the capsule side, the European service module and that of the crew will be connected this summer and the mooring system integrated immediately. The SLS rocket is currently being assembled and the engines should also be integrated in the coming months.
