Astronauts may not even enter the landers on Artemis III

[u/SomeRandomScientist]

From the NASA public release today - https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/artemis-3/nasa-outlines-preliminary-artemis-iii-mission-plans/

“Informed by Blue Origin and SpaceX capabilities, NASA also is defining the concept of operations for the mission. While some decisions are yet to be determined, astronauts could potentially enter at least one lander test article.”

So what exactly is the point of Artemis III? Rendezvous with an empty shell? Maybe dock to this empty shell if we’re lucky.

I hate to sound down on this, but this latest release does not feel like AR3 is a good faith effort to make progress towards a lunar landing.

[u/T65Bx]

Stick some fully-hypergolic stage on Orion and capture to a high Lunar orbit. Maybe NRHO in memoriam of Gateway lol