NASA requires three rocket launches to verify two moon landers

For the four astronauts selected for the next major lunar mission, the path to the moon now involves a 14-day trial run that requires three separate heavy-lift rocket launches. NASA detailed this complex verification campaign on October 23 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, outlining a procedure that will test commercial landers in Earth orbit before any crewed lunar landing is attempted.

The mission sequence begins with Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. This vehicle will launch Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander into low Earth orbit. Following this, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) will launch the Orion spacecraft carrying a four-person crew. The astronauts include NASA’s Randy Bresnik, Andre Douglas, and Frank Rubio, along with European Space Agency pilot Luca Parmitano.

Upon launch, SLS will place Orion in a highly elliptical orbit with a low point of 18 miles and a high point of 1,122 miles. The capsule will then adjust its trajectory to a stable orbit at approximately 345 miles. Program manager Jeremy Parsons explained that this specific orbital maneuver is necessary to ensure thermal stability, as the Orion capsule faces more severe heat conditions in low Earth orbit than it does in deep space.

The crew will spend two days inspecting Orion systems before rendezvousing with the Blue Moon lander on the third day of the flight. The two spacecraft will dock at an altitude of 273 miles. Once docked, the astronauts will spend two days inside the Blue Moon module, testing life support systems, environmental controls, and emergency procedures. Mission Control will also undergo parallel testing to verify command capabilities for both vehicles.

The second lander, SpaceX’s Starship, will launch on the sixth day of the mission. This 171-foot upper stage will carry a special docking adapter and reach Orion on the eighth day at an altitude of 237 miles. The crew will not enter the Starship during this encounter. Instead, the two-hour docking is designed to measure the physical forces involved in connecting the vehicles and to gather data on how the systems interact.

After undocking from Starship, the mission will continue for six to nine additional days. The total nominal duration is 14 days, though delays could extend the flight to 17 days. The crew will use this time to evaluate survival suits, a task not performed during the April Artemis II flyby, along with conducting health assessments and technology demonstrations. The mission concludes with a parachute-aided splashdown in the ocean.

The data collected from this orbital test will determine which lander is ready for the 2028 Artemis IV mission. Artemis IV is planned to be the first crewed landing near the moon’s south pole since Apollo 17 in 1972. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman stated that the agency is keeping options open for both Blue Origin and SpaceX. He noted that the agency has no intention of eliminating a viable landing path until data or schedules require it.

The two companies have different operational profiles for the 2028 mission. Under the Blue Origin scenario, Orion would meet the lander in lunar orbit. In the SpaceX scenario, Starship would dock with Orion in Earth orbit and propel the combined stack toward the moon. Although NASA is targeting a summer launch for this verification flight, Isaacman revealed in an internal memo last month that the mission is approximately 90 days behind schedule due to supply chain issues with the lunar landers.