en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_IV
1 correction found
With Starship, both vehicles are planned to dock in Low Earth Orbit and Starship will push both to a lunar orbit.
NASA’s current Artemis IV mission profile does not have Orion docking with Starship in low Earth orbit. NASA says Artemis IV’s crew travels to lunar orbit in Orion and transfers to the lander there; the low-Earth-orbit docking test is part of Artemis III.
Full reasoning
This sentence appears to mix up Artemis III’s Earth-orbit demonstration with Artemis IV’s lunar landing mission.
NASA’s current Artemis IV mission page says the Artemis IV crew will travel to lunar orbit aboard Orion, and that Orion will dock with a lander there before two astronauts descend to the surface. It does not describe Orion docking with Starship in low Earth orbit or Starship pushing Orion to the Moon.
NASA’s May 2026 Artemis III planning page, by contrast, explicitly says Artemis III is the mission in Earth orbit that will test rendezvous and docking between Orion and commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin. That means low-Earth-orbit docking is part of the Artemis III test mission, not the published Artemis IV mission profile.
NASA’s Human Landing Systems overview is consistent with this: it says Orion brings astronauts from Earth to the lander in lunar orbit, and for later crewed missions astronauts will use Gateway for crew transfer. That also conflicts with the post’s claim that Artemis IV’s Starship case involves docking Orion and Starship in low Earth orbit and then having Starship push both vehicles to lunar orbit.
3 sources
- Artemis IV - NASA
Artemis IV astronauts will travel to lunar orbit... The crew of Artemis IV will ride to lunar orbit aboard the Orion spacecraft, where Orion will dock with a lander in preparation for their journey to the lunar surface.
- NASA Outlines Preliminary Artemis III Mission Plans - NASA
NASA is moving quickly to define next year's Artemis III mission in Earth orbit, a crewed flight that will test rendezvous and docking capabilities between the agency's Orion spacecraft and commercial landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX.
- Human Landing Systems - NASA
Beginning with Artemis III, the lander will be launched uncrewed to lunar orbit to wait for the crew. Launching atop NASA's SLS rocket, the Orion spacecraft will bring the astronauts from Earth to the lander in lunar orbit... For later crewed missions, astronauts will use NASA's Gateway lunar space station for crew transfer.