The 14-day mission, slated for mid-2027, will serve as a test to see which company’s lunar lander performs better in low-Earth orbit. Both will practice docking, habitation and operational procedures essential for the return to the moon, planned for 2028

Margherita Bassi

Margherita Bassi | Daily Correspondent

October 28, 2026 10:00 a.m.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman speaking during the recent press briefing.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman discussed the plan for Artemis 3 during a press briefing. NASA

The race to the moon is on. And it’s not just one between the United States and China. Within NASA’s Artemis program, contracted companies SpaceX and Blue Origin, founded by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, respectively, are vying to provide the lander that will return humans to the moon’s surface.

They’ll be put to the test during next year’s Artemis 3 mission, and NASA announced the schedule for it on October 23. The 14-day mission in Earth orbit will test how versions of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 lander and SpaceX’s Starship Version 3 lander rendezvous and dock with NASA’s Orion capsule, which will hold the astronauts on their journey toward our celestial companion.

Additionally, each spacecraft will rely on a different launch vehicle and involve a series of complex maneuvers. “We’re launching three of the most powerful rockets in the world and undertaking what is likely the most complicated launch campaign ever undertaken,” said Jeremy Parsons, Artemis Program manager, during a press briefing.

The crewed mission will begin with the launch of Blue Origin’s lander atop the company’s New Glenn rocket. Orion will follow, lifting off with NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, and the two spacecraft will link up in low-Earth orbit. They will remain connected for around two days, during which the crew will move between the two craft and conduct tests on Blue Moon. The astronauts will then return to Orion, after which it will disconnect from the lander.

Next up is SpaceX. Starship Version 3 will launch atop the Starship rocket to join Orion in low-Earth orbit. The two spacecraft will dock for up to two hours, although the crew will not board Starship. NASA and SpaceX will evaluate the lander’s controllability, communications and software performance, among other aspects.

After they undock, Orion will spend up to five more days in orbit. NASA and the astronauts will test space suits and docking sensors, take scientific measurements and perform technology demonstrations, which will be crucial for future Artemis missions. Notably, NASA is aiming for all this to happen in the summer of 2027.

“It’s exciting. It’s thrilling. It’s all of those things, but it’s also very challenging under the timeline that has currently been laid out,” former NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore tells Fox News. He also points out that SpaceX’s Starship rocket that will launch its lander has reached Earth orbit just once, and Blue Origin’s New Glenn has not performed a test flight with Blue Moon in tow.   

Still, NASA administrators seem convinced that speed doesn’t have to sacrifice safety.

“It’s not that I don’t recognize that if you go fast, you can make mistakes. That’s obviously true just in life,” Amit Kshatriya, NASA associate administrator and chief engineer, tells CNN’s Jackie Wattles. But “you can go fast and be careful so long as the things you look at are important.”

Many external experts are skeptical that NASA will be able to achieve a moon landing in 2028 and believe China will beat us to our natural satellite, according to the New York Times’ Kenneth Chang. The agency already pushed back its lunar landing plans. Artemis 3 was initially supposed to return humans to the moon, but it’s now a stepping stone toward that goal.

illustration showing how Artemis 4 would work for spacex
SpaceX will be conducting in-space propellant aggregation for Artemis 4. NASA

Regardless, NASA is forging ahead with new concepts of operations for its Artemis 4 mission, according to another statement.

SpaceX’s plan continues to involve launching multiple spacecraft into orbit, which will transfer fuel into the Starship Human Landing System. The lander would dock with Orion in Earth orbit and then propel the connected spacecraft into low lunar orbit. From there, the Starship lander would bring the crew to and from the moon’s surface before returning them to Orion for their journey home.

Blue Origin will have a different, and now accelerated, approach employing three transfer stages. Transfer stages are like rocket stages—when one runs out of fuel, it disconnects to make room for the next. The transfer stages and Blue Moon lander will launch separately and connect in low-Earth orbit. From there, the transfer stages will propel the lander into orbit around the moon, where it will dock with the Orion spacecraft. The last transfer stage will then take the lander into low moon orbit, from which the lander will travel back and forth from the moon before redocking with Orion.

illustration for how blue origin will work for artemis 4
Blue Origin has an accelerated plan employing three transfer stages. NASA

In both scenarios, the four crewmembers will travel to space in Orion. Two of them will enter the lander and travel to the moon’s surface, while the others wait in Orion.

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Source: Smithsonian Magazine · Margherita Bassi

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Science
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