Artemis 3 is the third scheduled flight of NASA's Artemis program.
The mission, which is scheduled to launch in 2027, was originally supposed to land astronauts on the moon. No boots have hit lunar dirt since Apollo 17, way back in 1972.
Article continues belowArtemis 3 launch date
The Artemis 3 launch date is set for 2027 for now, after an initial target of 2024.
NASA's readiness for Artemis 3 depends on two key things: the success of previous missions and the availability of an unflown human landing system, or HLS — SpaceX's Starship and/or Blue Origin's Blue Moon. Agency officials have said the mission may use either or both of those private vehicles.
One Artemis mission is already in the books — Artemis 1, which launched an uncrewed Orion capsule to lunar orbit atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in late 2022. Orion came back to Earth as planned about 25 days after liftoff, so the mission was a success. However, the capsule's heat shield suffered more damage than expected during the fiery return trip through our atmosphere. So NASA has tweaked the reentry profile for the next mission up — Artemis 2, which could launch as soon as April 1, 2026.
Artemis 2 will send four astronauts — NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency — on a roughly 10-day trip around the moon aboard Orion. It will be the first-ever crewed mission of the Artemis program, so all needs to go well to keep Artemis 3 on track and schedule.
Also required is the readiness of either Starship or Blue Moon. And both vehicles still have work to do: Starship has flown 11 times to date but has not yet reached Earth orbit, and Blue Moon has yet to leave the ground.
We don't yet know who will fly on Artemis 3; NASA has not announced the crewmembers.
What will Artemis 3 do?
Artemis 3 will be similar to Apollo 9, which spent 10 days in Earth orbit in 1969 testing the Apollo lunar module's engines, navigation gear, life-support systems and docking operations, among other things.
Artemis 3 will put Orion and one or both of the private landers through their paces as well. Orion and its unnamed astronauts will launch atop an SLS rocket, then meet up with Starship and/or Blue Moon, which will find their own way to orbit. But there are still a lot of details to work out.
"NASA will announce specifics on the Artemis 3 mission design and crew closer to the 2027 launch," agency officials wrote on the mission's website.
What comes after Artemis 3?
The planning past Artemis 3 is a bit uncertain. Currently, however, NASA wants Artemis 4 — targeted to launch in 2027 or 2028 — to be the program's first crewed landing mission.
"Artemis 4 astronauts will travel to lunar orbit, where two crew members will descend to the surface and spend approximately a week near the South Pole of the moon conducting new science before returning to lunar orbit to join their crew for the journey back to Earth," agency officials wrote in an Artemis 4 mission description.
The south pole will also be the target of future crewed landing efforts, because the area is thought to be rich in water ice. This key resource can be used for life support and also split into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen, key components of rocket fuel.
Indeed, NASA officials have said they want to build one or more bases near the lunar south pole over the next decade or so. Such outposts will help the agency learn how to live and work in deep space, allowing it to send astronauts to Mars in the 2040s, the thinking goes.
Additional Resources
You can read more about the Artemis program on the NASA Artemis website.
Bibliography
European Space Agency. (2020). Artemis 3 Step-By-Step. https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2020/05/Artemis_3_step-by-step
NASA. (n.d.) Artemis. https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/
NASA. (2020). NASA's Plan for Sustained Lunar Exploration and Development. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/a_sustained_lunar_presence_nspc_report4220final.pdf
NASA. (2025.) FY26 Budget Request. https://www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budget-request/
Editor's note: This page was updated on March 19 with the new plan for Artemis 3.
