An Over Coffee® special-edition podcast!

This post and podcast are NOT, in any way, shape or form, affiliated with, nor endorsed by, NASA.

What will it take, to return humans to the Moon–and to establish a permanent U.S. lunar base?

On Friday, October 23rd, that’s exactly what NASA explored, in a press conference featuring NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya and NASA Artemis Program Manager Jeremy Parsons.

Artemis III, according to NASA’s webpage, will operate in low earth orbit, carrying out a series of tasks in preparation for future lunar landings. Then, Artemis IV will return astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028.

We had the honor of getting to attend the press conference by phone. Here is the story we heard, both of what’s currently happening with preparations for these missions, and NASA’s projected goals for the future.

On this edition of Over Coffee® we cover:

• What was happening in the vehicle assembly building, or VAB, at Kennedy Space Center, at the time of the press conference;

• A timeline of the next launches of Artemis III and IV, in 2027 and 2028 respectively;

• The goals of current construction of the vehicles;

• What teams learned from Artemis I, going forward;

• How the Artemis III mission will operate;

• The timeline and launch sequence;

• A major milestone, after the SLS is in orbit;

• What happens after the Orion spacecraft docks with Blue Moon;

• The third launch of the mission, and what happens thereafter;

• Objectives, after the Starship docking is complete;

• Specifics on the scientific research that will follow;

• How the astronauts and their supporting teams have been preparing for the mission;

• The immediacy of the work on these missions, and the benefits;

• Progress that’s been made on each vehicle, so far;

• How the Starship lander will interact with the Orion crew capsule;

• Preparations for Artemis IV;

• Two types of spacesuits currently in development for lunar missions;

• How each spacesuit will be used;

• A production timeline for the spacesuits;

• Upcoming milestones;

• Next goals, and the ultimate objectives.