Artemis 3 will now focus on testing complex rendezvous and docking operations in Earth orbit involving Nasa’s Orion crew capsule and one or both lunar landing systems.

Under the revised plan, Artemis 3 will now focus on testing complex rendezvous and docking operations in Earth orbit involving Nasa’s Orion crew capsule and one or both lunar landing systems currently under development, SpaceX’s Starship and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander. Nasa says the orbital test mission intends to reduce risks ahead of Artemis 4, which is now expected to become the program’s first astronaut landing mission near the Moon’s south pole. Artemis 3 is currently targeted for launch in mid-2027, while Artemis 4 is tentatively scheduled for late 2028 if development milestones remain on track. The mission is expected to become one of Nasa’s most technically demanding human spaceflight operations in decades, requiring complex spacecraft docking procedures, deep-space mission coordination, and long-duration lunar system testing. The crew announcement also comes shortly after Nasa unveiled over $1 billion in new lunar exploration contracts covering rovers, cargo landers, mobility systems, and Moon base infrastructure designed to support future Artemis operations near the lunar south pole. Nasa has said the long-term Moon Base initiative could eventually span hundreds of square miles and serve as humanity’s first sustained outpost on another celestial body.

Future spacecraft could use a single propellant to perform both rapid movements and slow, highly controlled adjustments.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes fell on Tuesday as a rebound in technology shares faded.

Alphabet entered a cloud service agreement with SpaceX to pay $920 million per month for 200 megawatts of capacity from October 2026 through June 2029.