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Space
Space
Science
Josh Dinner

NASA's ambitious Artemis 3 mission includes 3 giant rocket launches, 2 private moon landers and 1 big question: Can it all work together?

A collage of three images showing NASA's Artemis 2 launch, SpaceX's Starship docked to Orion and the Blue Moon lander.

HOUSTON — When you get down to brass tacks, NASA's Artemis 3 mission in 2027 looks to be one of agency's most complicated missions ever — one that relies on not one but three giant rockets and a pair of private moon lander prototypes that haven't even been built yet.

If NASA's schedule holds, four Artemis 3 astronauts will launch aboard an Orion spacecraft sometime in the second half of next year. Once in Earth orbit, they'll test Orion's capability to fly and function with two Artemis moon lander designs. NASA introduced that crew on Tuesday (June 9) during a ceremony here at the Johnson Space Center that also included new details on how the Artemis 3 mission will work.

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