As part of a Golden Age of exploration and discovery, NASA announced Friday the agency is increasing its cadence of missions under the Artemis program to achieve the national objective of returning American astronauts to the Moon and establishing an enduring presence. This includes standardizing vehicle configuration, adding an additional mission in 2027, and undertaking at least one surface landing every year thereafter.
As teams prepare to launch Artemis II in the weeks ahead, the Artemis III mission, now in 2027, will be designed to test out systems and operational capabilities in low Earth orbit to prepare for an Artemis IV landing in 2028. This new mission will endeavor to include a rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin, in-space tests of the docked vehicles, integrated checkout of life support, communications, and propulsion systems, as well as tests of the new Extravehicular Activity (xEVA) suits. NASA will further define this test flight after completing detailed reviews between NASA and our industry partners. The agency will share the specific objectives for the updated Artemis III mission in the near future.
NASA’s recently announced workforce directive is a key factor in enabling this acceleration. NASA will rebuild core competencies in the civil servant workforce including more in-house and side-by-side development work with our Artemis partners, enabling a safer, more reliable, and faster launch cadence.
“NASA must standardize its approach, increase flight rate safely, and execute on the President’s national space policy. With credible competition from our greatest geopolitical adversary increasing by the day, we need to move faster, eliminate delays, and achieve our objectives,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Standardizing vehicle configuration, increasing flight rate and progressing through objectives in a logical, phased approach, is how we achieved the near-impossible in 1969 and it is how we will do it again.”
“After successful completion of the Artemis I flight test, the upcoming Artemis II flight test, and the new, more robust test approach to Artemis III, it is needlessly complicated to alter the configuration of the SLS and Orion stack to undertake subsequent Artemis missions,” said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya. “There is too much learning left on the table and too much development and production risk in front of us. Instead, we want to keep testing like we fly and have flown. We are looking back to the wisdom of the folks that designed Apollo. The entire sequence of Artemis flights needs to represent a step-by-step build-up of capability, with each step bringing us closer to our ability to perform the landing missions. Each step needs to be big enough to make progress, but not so big that we take unnecessary risk given previous learnings. Therefore, we want to fly the landing missions in as close to the same Earth ascent configuration as possible – this means using an upper stage and pad systems in as close to the ‘Block 1’ configuration as possible. We will work with our partners that have been developing the evolved block configuration of these systems to take proper actions to align their efforts towards this goal and announce the details of those changes once they are finalized. We will take a similar approach to in-space, landing, and surface EVA operations as well, as we evolve the mission sequence in the spirit of the Apollo mindset, which was obsessed with system reliability and crew safety as the keys to mission success.”
The announcement came during a news conference at NASA Kennedy where leaders also discussed the status of the Artemis II mission. NASA rolled the SLS and Orion spacecraft to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Feb. 25 for repairs ahead of the next launch opportunities for the test flight in April.
Once the Artemis II hardware was back in the VAB, teams immediately began work on the helium issue discovered on the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage and prepared for several actions including replacing batteries in the flight termination system, end-to-end testing for range safety requirements, and more.
“I’m grateful to Administrator Isaacman for taking this bold step and moving quickly to assure we have the support and resources needed to launch Artemis astronauts to the Moon every year,” said Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Our team is up to the challenge of a successful Artemis II mission, and soon thereafter, enabling a more frequent cadence of Moon missions.”
For more about the Artemis campaign, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/artemis
Source: NASA
Appendix: Top 10 Questions Answered in This Article
What is the purpose of the Artemis II mission?
The Artemis II mission aims to launch four astronauts around the Moon and back, serving as a test flight to validate systems and operational capabilities.
When is Artemis II scheduled to launch?
Artemis II is preparing for a test flight in April, after troubleshooting issues with the rocket’s helium flow.
What new objectives did NASA announce for the Artemis program?
NASA announced it is increasing its cadence of missions, adding an additional mission in 2027, and planning for at least one surface landing every year thereafter.
What does the Artemis III mission involve?
Artemis III will test systems in low Earth orbit and prepare for Artemis IV, including docking with commercial landers and testing new Extravehicular Activity suits.
How does NASA plan to standardize its approach for upcoming missions?
NASA intends to standardize vehicle configuration and increase flight rates to fulfill objectives while learning from past missions.
Who is responsible for the SLS core stage’s design and production?
Boeing is responsible for the design and production of the SLS core stage, touted as the world’s most powerful rocket stage.
What challenges did NASA identify regarding the SLS and Orion stack for future missions?
The configuration alteration of the SLS and Orion stack creates unnecessary complications that NASA wants to avoid in future Artemis missions.
How is NASA addressing workforce needs for the Artemis program?
NASA announced a workforce directive to rebuild core competencies, enabling safer and more reliable launches through in-house collaborations with Artemis partners.
What steps are being taken to resolve the helium issue in the Artemis II mission?
Teams are working on troubleshooting the helium issue on the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage as part of ongoing preparations in the Vehicle Assembly Building.
What are NASA’s long-term goals for lunar missions?
NASA aims to establish an enduring presence on the Moon with regular missions, emphasizing safety and reliability in system operations.
