NASA plans crewed Artemis III low Earth orbit mission for 2027

NASA is planning to send four astronauts on a 14-day mission in low Earth orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft in 2027, the Huntsville Business Journal reported. The uncrewed and crewed Artemis tests are designed to check systems required to land humans on the surface of the Moon. The Artemis IV mission is targeting a crewed lunar landing in early 2028, which would mark the first human return to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. [1]

As FTMQ Space reported earlier, the Artemis III mission is scheduled to launch in 2027 aboard a Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center. The 14-day low Earth orbit flight will test human landing system hardware built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. The assigned crew includes astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas, and Luca Parmitano. [4]

Huntsville, Alabama, is the county seat of Madison County with parts extending into Limestone, Marshall, and Morgan counties. The city's population reached 215,006 at the 2020 census and grew to an estimated 233,627 by July 2025. NASA previously achieved six crewed Moon landings during the Apollo program, beginning with Apollo 11 in 1969. [2][3]

Beyond returning astronauts to the lunar surface, NASA is working on a phased initiative to build a moon base and maintain a long-term human presence, the Huntsville Business Journal reported. The agency also plans to launch Space Reactor-1 before the end of 2028 to demonstrate nuclear electric propulsion technology in deep space. [1]