NASA's Artemis III to Test Orion Docking in Earth Orbit, Delaying Lunar Landing to 2028

NASA's Artemis III mission will not land astronauts on the moon, but will instead test the Orion capsule's ability to rendezvous and operate with commercial lunar landers in Earth orbit in 2027. The mission follows Artemis II's successful lunar flyby in April 2026 and precedes a lunar touchdown attempt on Artemis IV, now expected in early 2028. Scientist Barbara Cohen explained that SpaceX and Blue Origin will each provide a test article—not a full lander—to demonstrate docking procedures with Orion. Although Artemis missions are not primarily science missions, Cohen said the crew will deploy witness materials such as aluminum foil, Teflon, and ceramic to study how the cabin environment alters samples. She emphasized that human astronauts remain essential for real-time observation, interpretation, and decision-making, unlike robotic assets. Cohen also shared her personal research interest in dating lunar craters, particularly the South Pole-Aitken Basin, to reconstruct the solar system's violent impact history, since Earth's geological processes have erased similar evidence. The interview originally appeared in WIRED en Español.