NASA administrator says he's 'extremely confident' Artemis III will launch in 2027

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has recently shared that he's "extremely confident" the Artemis III Moon mission will launch in 2027. The remarks came at Kennedy Space Center, where officials announced “Max Power,” a new privately run air and space show backed by NASA and taking place on November 7 and November 8, 2026. This event will feature air shows, tech displays, as well as astronaut appearances from previous Apollo and Artemis missions. 

In his speech, he added, "That's why we stepped into stacking operations." Artemis III includes three separate launches, and NASA is currently assembling the Space Launch System pieces together. Earlier this year, the space agency also announced the astronauts for the mission. This includes Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas, and European astronaut Luca Parmitano. As a part of the mission, they will stay in Earth orbit and cover important tasks, such as docking NASA's Orion spacecraft with commercial lunar landers. This will help NASA better prepare for the future Moon landing missions, including the upcoming Artemis IV. 

The Artemis III mission starts with Blue Origin, as it will launch a test version of its Blue Moon Mark 2 lander into low Earth orbit aboard its New Glenn rocket. A few days later, the SLS rocket carrying Orion will also lift off and dock with that test lander in orbit. SpaceX will also launch its Starship Version 3 rocket, though astronauts will stay aboard Orion the whole time. Isaacman talked about visiting Blue Origin's assembly line, saying, "I had a chance to visit with the Blue Origin team earlier, walked the assembly line floor today, looking at components that will make their way into the Blue Origin test lander that we will be rendezvousing and docking with." 

What’s next after Artemis III?

Commenting on what’s next, Isaacman noted, "Now with respect to SpaceX, I think you're what you're witnessing, you're seeing an increase in launch cadence, and that's critical. If they're able to launch again in early September after their last launch and continue to track inside the month, potentially every couple of weeks before the end of the year, that's going to — we're going to feel very good about their time to contribute to Artemis 3 next year." 

He also noted that SpaceX has started cutting and preparing the hardware for its test vehicles. He said NASA is “feeling very good about that,” and as more pieces of Artemis III come together, the agency is becoming more confident about the Artemis IV timeline. Artemis IV is expected to be the program’s first crewed Moon landing, though NASA has not yet announced the crew or which lander will be used.

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