What is Nasa's Artemis III mission? And what comes next?

NASA has announced more details about its next Artemis mission, which is set to launch in the summer of 2027. The Artemis III mission will not head to the Moon, but will instead fly to low Earth orbit where it will dock with two prototype lunar landers.

The mission involves four astronauts, three rocket launches, three different spacecraft, and two dockings. It will last for 14 days, although it could be extended to 17 days if needed.

The first rocket to launch will be Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, blasting off from Florida. It will be carrying its prototype lander called Blue Moon. No astronauts will be on board, and the lander will be placed into low Earth orbit.

Then NASA's Space Launch System rocket will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying four Artemis III astronauts in the Orion capsule. This is the same type of rocket and spacecraft used for the Artemis II mission, which saw astronauts fly around the Moon and back to Earth.

The crew will spend two days checking out their spacecraft, and then on day three of its flight, Orion will dock with the Blue Origin's Blue Moon. The crew will open the hatch and enter the lander, where they will spend two days checking out its systems.

On flight day six, SpaceX's huge Starship rocket will blast off, also from Florida. The upper stage of its rocket, called 'the Ship', is the prototype lander, although it has not yet been fitted out as a lander and lacks life support systems. This will be placed in low Earth orbit.

Nasa's Orion spacecraft and its crew will undock from the Blue Moon lander and then dock with the SpaceX Ship. This will be a shorter demonstration lasting for two hours, and the Artemis III crew will not enter the SpaceX lander.

Once undocked, the Orion crew will spend the rest of their mission carrying out additional tests of their capsule and carrying out science experiments, before returning home.

The Artemis III crew will be aboard Orion for two weeks, slightly longer than the nine days spent there by the Artemis II team. Their return journey will test an upgraded heat shield during the capsule's fiery re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.