NASA has confirmed that Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin will go head-to-head in orbit next year. The two companies' lunar landers will take part in a docking exercise during Artemis III, the space agency's next crewed mission.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Friday that the agency is still on track to launch Artemis III next summer. The mission will carry four astronauts and last two weeks. But this time, the crew stays close to home — the flight is confined to orbit around Earth, with no trip to the moon.
What Artemis III Will Actually Do in Orbit
The centerpiece of Artemis III is a docking exercise involving the lunar landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. In simple terms, the mission is a test run — a chance to prove that the hardware and procedures work before NASA attempts an actual moon landing.
Isaacman's update came six months after the successful Artemis II flight around the moon by four astronauts. That mission was humanity's first lunar trip in more than half a century, and it appears to have kept NASA's broader plans on schedule.
Artemis IV: The Real Moon Landing in 2028
The all-important Artemis IV — NASA's first moon landing by astronauts since Apollo — remains scheduled for 2028, according to Isaacman. That mission, not Artemis III, is the one that will actually put crews back on the lunar surface.
NASA is also moving fast on plans to build a moon base and return astronauts to the lunar surface in as little as two years. The Artemis III docking test fits into that bigger push: before anyone lands, the agency wants to know the landers can meet and connect safely in space.
- Artemis III: four astronauts, two weeks, Earth orbit only
- Main task: docking exercise between SpaceX and Blue Origin landers
- Artemis IV: first crewed moon landing since Apollo, targeted for 2028
- Background: Artemis II flew four astronauts around the moon six months before the announcement
Our Take: A Smart, If Less Exciting, Step
To put it plainly, an Earth-orbit docking test is not the headline-grabbing moon shot many space fans were hoping for. But it is the right move. Rushing a landing before the landers have proven they can dock would be reckless with astronaut lives.
In our view, the real story here is the rivalry. SpaceX and Blue Origin — two companies owned by two of the richest men in the world — will both have hardware in the same mission, working to the same goal. That competition is likely good for NASA, and it is good for anyone who wants to see progress in space.
For readers, the takeaway is simple: watch next summer's Artemis III closely. If the docking works, the 2028 moon landing becomes far more believable. If it doesn't, the whole timeline slips. Either way, as one rocket fan put it, it's going to be pretty awesome.
