Two months after NASA announced it was turning Artemis 3 from a moonshot into a glorified parking lot test in low Earth orbit, the agency remains tight-lipped about the details. The mission, once intended to be humanity's grand return to the lunar surface, is now an orbital rendezvous rehearsal where Orion will awkwardly meet up with lunar landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX. NASA calls it an Apollo 9 analog, which is a polite way of saying 'we're doing the boring practice run first.'

Hardware is slowly trickling into Kennedy Space Center. Most of the Space Launch System's core module arrived in April and is now living in the Vehicle Assembly Building, awaiting its engine section - which has been cooling its heels since last summer. Solid rocket booster segments are dribbling in from Northrop Grumman's Utah factory via train, because nothing says 'bold space exploration' like rail freight. Orion's crew capsule and service module are scheduled for a summer mating, which sounds romantic but is really just bolting things together.

What NASA hasn't shared: the mission's orbit, its duration, or any high-level concept of operations. Howard Hu, NASA's Orion program manager, shrugged that from Orion's perspective, the change is 'not much different' - just some recalculating of abort scenarios and making sure the spacecraft doesn't freeze or fry in Earth orbit. The SLS, however, might lose its upper stage entirely, preserving the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for Artemis 4 and giving engineers more time to jury-rig a Centaur upper stage for later missions.

Kent Chojnacki, deputy HLS program manager, described the choreography required as 'some kind of feat,' which is engineer-speak for 'this is going to be a nightmare.' Orbiting, approaching, and possibly docking with two different landers from two different companies? 'We're working on what the art of the possible is there,' he said, which is not the confidence-inspiring phrase you want to hear.

Axiom Space, tasked with providing lunar spacesuits for testing, is still waiting for NASA to tell them how that testing will work. 'We've provided the agency with a number of options,' said Russell Ralston, Axiom's EVA boss. 'It would certainly be a valuable exercise, but we just don't have the specifics at this time.' Translation: we have ideas, NASA has indecision. Axiom's CEO suggested the suit test might happen on the International Space Station instead, because why not add another variable?

As for the crew? No announcement yet. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman assured ABC News that 'we're not far away' from naming the Artemis 3 astronauts, because a year-plus out is 'when you want to get them into training.' So expect names before the rocket actually flies.

Speaking of flying: NASA originally targeted mid-2027 - specifically 'no earlier than March, no later than June.' But Isaacman has been hinting at a slip to late 2027, telling a House subcommittee that vendors are on track for a 'late 2027 rendezvous and docking.' That would make NASA's ambitious plan of two lunar landing attempts in 2028 - Artemis 4 and 5 - look like wishful thinking. Even if they launch every 10 months, a slip past April 2027 kills the double-header. Isaacman, ever the optimist, told Congress, 'Maybe two at bats in 2028.' Maybe indeed.