2026年6月9日 / 美国东部时间上午11:31 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
美国国家航空航天局（NASA）将于周二公布下一次阿尔忒弥斯登月计划任务的4名宇航员。在休斯顿约翰逊航天中心发布的这项公告，将开启阿尔忒弥斯三号机组人员为期一年及以上的任务专项训练。
他们预计于明年发射进入地球轨道，测试与太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）和蓝色起源公司正在建造的登月舱的交会与对接程序——这是美国在2028年将宇航员送回月球表面着陆前的关键里程碑。
阿尔忒弥斯三号任务将完成哪些工作
阿尔忒弥斯三号机组人员需要掌握与近55年来美国首次登月前的后续飞行任务中在月球轨道执行的相同操作。
阿尔忒弥斯三号机组将搭乘美国太空发射系统（SLS）火箭搭载的猎户座飞船升空，执行与1969年3月NASA阿波罗9号任务类似的任务，当时3名宇航员在地球轨道上测试了结构纤细的登月舱。此次测试是在1968年底成功完成月球轨道任务阿波罗8号之后进行的。
随后阿波罗10号任务在月球轨道上测试了登月舱，之后阿波罗11号终于在1969年7月在静海实现了人类首次登月。
阿尔忒弥斯计划相当于阿波罗8号的任务——即由阿尔忒弥斯二号指令长里德·怀斯曼、维克多·格洛弗、克里斯蒂娜·科赫以及加拿大宇航员杰里米·汉森完成环月飞行——已于今年4月成功完成。
NASA的登月计划
截至目前，阿尔忒弥斯三号是NASA在2028年尝试着陆前规划的唯一一次试飞任务，届时将使用届时可用的任意一款登月舱。到那时，两家公司中至少有一家需要完成一次成功的无人登月任务。
一幅艺术家构想的画作，展示了NASA的阿波罗登月舱（最左侧）、蓝色起源的马克二号登月舱（中间）以及太空探索技术公司的星舰变体（右侧），按比例绘制在月球表面。NASA
阿尔忒弥斯三号机组人员公布之际，蓝色起源公司仍在从5月28日发生的灾难性发射台爆炸事故中恢复，此次爆炸摧毁了一枚新格伦火箭——该型号火箭将用于在明年将该公司的蓝色起源马克二号登月舱送入地球轨道。该公司位于佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角太空军基地的唯一发射台遭受了严重损坏。
这家由杰夫·贝佐斯所有的公司表示，预计将于年底前恢复飞行，但此次事故打乱了新格伦火箭的发射计划，导致原本有望为更大、更先进的载人版本铺平道路的无人月球货运飞船蓝色起源马克一号的发射推迟。
新格伦火箭和卡纳维拉尔角太空军基地的36号发射台能否及时恢复运行，以便在阿尔忒弥斯三号任务节点前发射具备飞行能力的马克二号登月舱，目前仍未可知。
太空探索技术公司在完善发射其登月舱所需的巨型超重型星舰火箭方面也遇到了自身的难题。目前尚不清楚这家由埃隆·马斯克所有的公司何时能让其登月舱做好轨道飞行测试的准备，但NASA仍在不顾这些问题推进阿尔忒弥斯三号任务的计划。
如果仅有一款登月舱可用，任务仍将按计划进行。如果两款登月舱都未准备就绪，NASA可能会制定备选任务方案以确保计划继续推进。
阿尔忒弥斯计划旨在在2028年底前将宇航员送回月球表面。NASA希望在与中国的太空竞赛中占据先机，中国正致力于在本十年末将本国的“太空人”送上月球。
尽管NASA在1969年至1972年底期间将12名宇航员送上了月球表面，赢得了与前苏联的冷战太空竞赛，但该机构希望通过阿尔忒弥斯计划在月球建立近乎永久的存在，巩固其作为全球太空旅行、研究和技术领域领导者的地位。
NASA计划在阿尔忒弥斯四号和五号任务之外，发射一系列机器人着陆器和月球卫星，此后每年进行两次宇航员登月任务。这将为在2029至2030年左右在月球南极附近建造月球基地奠定基础。
月球南极地区是极具吸引力的目标，因为该区域存在永久阴影、超冷的陨石坑，预计蕴藏着彗星带来的冰沉积物，可就地获取水、空气和火箭燃料。一旦建成栖息地以及太阳能和核电站，轮换的宇航员机组就能像过去25年里在地球轨道上的空间站乘员那样，在月球上长期生活和工作。
但阿尔忒弥斯计划的时间表面临多重威胁，包括所需火箭和登月舱的准备进度可能将阿尔忒弥斯三号任务推迟至2028年，登月任务甚至会进一步延后。阿尔忒弥斯三号任务与登月任务之间是否需要增加额外的试飞次数，目前仍有待观察。
Watch Live: NASA names 4 astronauts to crew of next Artemis mission
June 9, 2026 / 11:31 AM EDT / CBS News
NASA is introducing the four astronauts of the next Artemis moon program mission on Tuesday. The announcement at the Johnson Space Center in Houston kicks off a year or more of mission-specific training for the Artemis III crew.
They are expected to launch into Earth orbit next year to test rendezvous and docking procedures with moon landers being built by SpaceX and Blue Origin — a critical milestone before the U.S. can send astronauts back to the moon for landing in 2028.
What the Artemis III mission will do
The Artemis III crew will need to master the same operations that will be carried out in lunar orbit on a subsequent flight before America’s first moon landing in nearly 55 years.
Launching in an Orion capsule atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, the Artemis III crew will carry out a mission similar to NASA’s Apollo 9 flight in March 1969 when three astronauts tested the spindly lunar excursion module in Earth orbit. That flight came after a successful lunar orbit mission, Apollo 8, at the end of 1968.
Then the Apollo 10 flight tested the lunar module in orbit around the moon before Apollo 11 finally made the first moon landing in the Sea of Tranquility in July 1969.
The Artemis program’s version of Apollo 8, sending Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a flight around the moon, was successfully completed in April.
NASA’s plans for a moon landing
As of now, Artemis III is the only test flight NASA is planning before making a landing attempt in 2028 with whichever lunar lander is available. By that point, one or both companies will have had to complete a successful unpiloted moon landing.
An artist’s impression showing NASA’s Apollo moon lander (far left), Blue Moon’s Mark II lander (center) and SpaceX’s Starship variant (right), drawn to scale, on the lunar surface. NASA
The Artemis III crew announcement comes as Blue Origin continues to recover from a catastrophic launch pad explosion May 28 that destroyed a New Glenn rocket like the one that will be needed to carry the company’s Blue Moon Mark II lander into Earth orbit next year. The company’s only launch pad, located at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, suffered major damage.
The Jeff Bezos-owned company says it expects to return to flight before the end of the year, but the mishap threw a wrench into the New Glenn launch schedule, delaying flights of the Blue Moon Mark I, an uncrewed lunar cargo ship, that was expected to have helped pave the way for the larger, more capable piloted version.
Whether the New Glenn rocket and pad 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station will be back in operation in time to launch a flight-ready Mark II lander in time for Artemis III remains to be seen.
SpaceX has had its own problems perfecting the huge Super Heavy-Starship rocket needed to launch that company’s lander. It’s not yet known when the Elon Musk-owned company will have its lander ready for an orbital flight test, but NASA is pressing ahead with plans for the Artemis III mission regardless.
If only one lander is available, the mission is expected to proceed. If neither lander is ready, NASA likely will come up with an alternate mission scenario to keep the program moving.
The Artemis program is intended to get astronauts back to the moon by the end of 2028. NASA wants to win a self-declared space race with China, which is working to send its own “taikonauts” to the moon by the end of the decade.
Even though NASA sent 12 astronauts to the moon’s surface between 1969 and the end of 1972, winning the Cold War space race with the former Soviet Union, the agency wants to establish a near permanent presence on the moon with the Artemis program, cementing its position as the world leader in space travel, research and technology.
NASA is planning to launch a series of robotic landers and lunar satellites along with the Artemis IV and V missions followed by two astronaut landings per year thereafter. That will set the stage for construction of a moon base near the lunar south pole beginning in the 2029-2030 timeframe.
The south polar region is an attractive target because of permanently shadowed, ultra-cold craters expected to harbor comet-borne ice deposits, providing an in situ source of water, air and rocket fuel. With habitats in place, along with solar and nuclear power stations, rotating astronaut crews could live and work on the moon for long durations much like space station fliers have done in Earth orbit for the past quarter century.
But there are multiple threats to the Artemis schedule, including the readiness of the required rockets and landers that could push Artemis III into 2028 and landing missions even further. Whether any additional test flights might be needed between the Artemis III mission and a moon landing remains to be seen.
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