NASA Artemis III Launch

What this countdown tracks

The launch of NASA's Artemis III mission, currently targeted for no earlier than mid-2027 from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, atop the Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1. Originally planned to land the first humans on the Moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972, Artemis III's profile was re-scoped in 2025 to a lunar-orbit rendezvous and a Human Landing System (HLS) docking demonstration with SpaceX Starship — the first crewed test of the integrated stack — with a separate, later mission expected to attempt the first crewed lunar surface landing of the Artemis era.

About this mission

Artemis is NASA's flagship human-spaceflight programme to return to and remain at the Moon and prepare for crewed Mars exploration. The architecture rests on three industrial pillars: the SLS heavy-lift rocket built by Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Aerojet Rocketdyne and L3Harris; the Orion crewed spacecraft built by Lockheed Martin with the European Service Module by Airbus on contract to ESA; and the Human Landing System awarded to SpaceX (Starship) in April 2021 and a sustainable HLS option awarded to Blue Origin (Blue Moon) in May 2023.

Artemis I flew uncrewed in November–December 2022. Artemis II completed its uncrewed flyby and crewed-flyby objective on 1–11 April 2026 with Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17. The Artemis III crew has not been publicly named at full strength, but NASA and CSA have indicated US and Canadian astronauts in mission slots, with the surface-mission re-scoping leaving the precise crew composition to be announced ahead of launch.

Mission objectives

The re-scoped Artemis III plan calls for the SLS to deliver Orion and the crew to a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon, where the crew will rendezvous and dock with the Starship HLS staged in lunar orbit by a separate uncrewed launch. The crew will perform an integrated systems checkout of the Starship HLS as a crew habitat and lander, demonstrate transfer between Orion and Starship, validate environmental control, communications, and rendezvous procedures, and return to Earth with Orion for a Pacific Ocean splashdown. The original "first woman and next man" surface landing has been deferred to a later Artemis mission (currently anticipated as Artemis IV in 2028 or later) to give Starship HLS more time to mature its complex orbital-refuelling concept of operations and a polar landing demonstration. The Artemis Generation programme partners with CSA, ESA, JAXA and the broader Artemis Accords signatories.

Past missions

• Artemis II — 1–11 April 2026 — successful crewed flyby of the Moon, the first crewed lunar flight since Apollo 17 in 1972.
• Artemis I — 16 November–11 December 2022 — uncrewed Orion spaceflight to the Moon and back.
• Apollo 17 — December 1972 — last Apollo lunar landing, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt.
• Apollo 11 — July 1969 — first crewed lunar landing, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

How to follow

NASA TV and NASA's official YouTube and X channels carry the prelaunch programming, launch and mission events. nasa.gov/artemis is the principal source for crew assignments, launch updates and technical documentation. Reuters, AP, AFP, BBC, NHK, Spaceflight Now, Eric Berger at Ars Technica, Marcia Smith at SpacePolicyOnline, Stephen Clark, NASASpaceflight.com and Spacefor publish in-depth analysis. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex hosts viewing for ticketed members; the launch is also visible from Cocoa Beach, Titusville and parts of Cape Canaveral. International coverage spans CSA, ESA, JAXA and CNSA mirror sites for partner participation.

Related countdowns

Pair Artemis III with Chandrayaan-4 launch — India's first lunar sample-return mission — and the Gaganyaan H1 crewed flight for India's first orbital crewed mission. The robotic-mission cluster includes NASA Dragonfly to Titan, NASA Roman Space Telescope, and the Shukrayaan Venus orbiter. The Bharatiya Antariksh Station begins with the BAS-01 launch.

FAQ

When is Artemis III? No earlier than mid-2027, from Launch Complex 39B at NASA Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Where will the mission go? To near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon for a rendezvous and docking demonstration with SpaceX Starship HLS, returning to a Pacific splashdown. Why does Artemis III matter? It is the first crewed test of the integrated SLS-Orion-Starship lunar architecture and the next step toward a sustained American return to the lunar surface. Will Artemis III land on the Moon? No — the mission was re-scoped in 2025 to a lunar-orbit rendezvous and HLS checkout; the next crewed surface-landing attempt is anticipated on a later Artemis flight.