NASA partners with SpaceX, Blue Origin on lunar landers

NASA has redefined Artemis III to test a rendezvous between its Orion spacecraft and test versions of landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin in low Earth orbit next year, before crews travel to the Moon. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency is working to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028 and establish a Moon Base, and that NASA has a proven foundation with SLS and Orion and two lunar landers in development with Blue Origin and SpaceX.

The new approach moves the rendezvous from the previously planned near-rectilinear halo orbit to an orbit that differs for each partner, based on their own systems. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin must fly an uncrewed demonstration of their landers before any crewed mission, and NASA will certify the lander systems to ensure safety and mission success.

SpaceX's Starship lander will use a propellant-aggregation strategy in low Earth orbit. Multiple Starship tankers launch to low Earth orbit to refuel a waiting depot Starship, which then fuels the Starship lander for its trip to the Moon. After the lander docks with Orion in Earth orbit, it performs a trans-lunar injection burn to reach low lunar orbit, brings two astronauts to the surface, and returns them to Orion for the journey home.

Blue Origin will send its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander on a three-stage transfer. The three transfer stages and the lander launch into low Earth orbit, and the stack then heads to an elliptical polar orbit around the Moon, with each stage separating as its propellant runs out. This orbit speeds returns, reduces propellant needs, and maximizes the performance of the SLS and Orion. Blue Origin will demonstrate the full mission profile in an uncrewed lander transfer stage demonstration, after which NASA will decide which provider will first deliver astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028.