Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: NASA

NASA has begun to outline preliminary Artemis III mission plans.

• During the Artemis III mission, the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket will launch the Orion spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida with four crew members.
• Instead of using the interim cryogenic propulsion stage as the upper stage of the rocket, NASA will use a “spacer,” a representation of the mass and overall dimensions of an upper stage but without propulsive capabilities. The spacer will maintain the same overall dimensions and interface connection points as the upper stage between the Orion stage adapter and launch vehicle stage adapter.
• Design and fabrication activities for the spacer are progressing rapidly at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Material for the barrel section and the upper and lower rings is currently being machined at Marshall in preparation for upcoming welding operations.

Moon lander “pathfinders”

Image credit: NASA

• After the SLS delivers Orion to orbit, the spacecraft’s European-built service module will provide propulsion to circularize Orion’s orbit around the planet in low Earth orbit.
• The SLS will hurl Orion and its four-person crew to perform operations with a SpaceX Starship human lunar landing system pathfinder, and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 human landing system pathfinder. While some decisions are yet to be determined, astronauts could potentially enter at least one lander test article.
• The crew will spend more time aboard Orion than during Artemis II of roughly 10 days, further advancing the evaluation of life support systems, and for the first time will demonstrate the docking system performance.
• NASA also plans to test an upgraded heat shield during Orion’s return to Earth.
• There are options to evaluate Axiom’s AxEMU spacesuit lander interfaces ahead of lunar surface missions.

Artwork depicts two Artemis astronauts planting an American flag at the lunar south pole.
Image credit: NASA/Daniel O’Neal

Overall status of upcoming Artemis missions

Meanwhile, in an X/Twitter posting, NASA chief, Jared Isaacman, reinforced the timing of the Artemis III mission and overall status of rebooting the Moon.

“We never officially moved the timing of Artemis III to ‘late’ 2027. A reporter wrote that after misinterpreting my quick response to a question during a budget hearing. In the same hearing, I also said we were gaining increased confidence in interoperability tests with both landers in 2027. I am quite sure at least one will incorporate an ECLSS [Environmental Control and Life Support Systems] demonstration.

As for 2028, Isaacman said NASA would carry out up to two landing attempts, if required. “That story has not changed, and the South Pole was always the landing target.”

Nine candidate landing regions for NASA’s Artemis IV mission The background image of the lunar South Pole terrain within the nine regions is a mosaic of LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) WAC (Wide Angle Camera) images.
Image credit: NASA

Moving goalposts

Isaacman said that the only goalposts that have moved “have been in the direction of achievability–standardizing the architecture, adding missions, focusing resources, and rebuilding in-house competencies. We have tried to communicate to the greatest extent possible in this regard, while respecting the proprietary information of our commercial partners.”

The NASA leader also stated he is proud of the NASA team “and the new pace we are moving at.”

Furthermore, the public will learn in the weeks ahead which astronauts will undertake Artemis III, “and I would not be surprised if you see some early wet dress testing at [launch pad] 39B before the end of this year.”

Regarding what some have characterized as a schedule that’s ambitious, Isaacman said that he agrees.

“And NASA’s recent track record on schedule has not been great, but when it comes to landing astronauts on the Moon, historically, our batting average was pretty good. I suspect it will be again,” Isaacman said.

Image credit: White House