ARTEMIS TRACKERARTEMIS III // LANDER PROFILE Both landers
Blue OriginHLS // 01MISSION 03

ARTEMIS III // Crew-cabin and side-docking demonstration

Blue Moon Mark 2

A flight test of Blue Origin's planned crew cabin, avionics and life-support architecture before the Mark 2 lander carries astronauts between lunar orbit and the Moon.
Mission orbit
Circular low Earth orbit
Launch position
First vehicle to launch
Docking target
Orion is the chaser
Crew clothing
Orange Orion survival suits
Artist's concept of the Blue Moon Mark 2 test article docked with Orion above Earth
01
ARTEMIS III TEST ARTICLEBlue Origin
TEST PROFILE
30Days maximum loiter
2Crew may enter
SIDEDocking position
ORIONControls docked stack
HLS // A3

01 // Vehicle background

Built for the next lunar era.

Blue Moon is Blue Origin's family of lunar landers. Mark 1 is an uncrewed cargo vehicle; the larger Mark 2 is being developed as a crewed human landing system capable of carrying astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface and back.

For Artemis III, Blue Origin is building a test article based on the Mark 2 crew lander architecture. It includes the planned crew cabin, major avionics, flight software, control systems and environmental control and life-support equipment so the orbital demonstration produces data that transfers directly to later lunar flights.

The vehicle also carries an instrumented spacesuit mass simulator. Like the Moonikin flown aboard Artemis I, it will record the environment inside the cabin while the spacecraft is operating in orbit.

02 // Artemis III operations

The orbital test sequence.

  1. 01

    Launch & park

    The uncrewed test article launches first and enters a designated parking orbit.

  2. 02

    Wait & check

    Teams can perform orbital checkouts while the vehicle waits for Orion for up to 30 days.

  3. 03

    Orion approaches

    Orion acts as the chaser spacecraft and performs rendezvous and proximity operations.

  4. 04

    Dock & enter

    Orion docks beside the crew cabin; up to two astronauts enter for integrated demonstrations.

03 // Beyond the test flight

The lunar destination.

The lunar Mark 2 is intended to carry crews between lunar orbit and the Moon's surface, supporting repeated expeditions and a more sustained human presence at the lunar South Pole.