Artemis and Starship: Mega Rockets Intended for Human Moon Exploration Advance Towards Flight
NASA to update on cryogenic tanking test which saw 7% hydrogen leak from 20-cm seal largely mitigated by reducing fueling pressure at 23 Sep press briefing; Next launch opportunity 27 Sep pending weather & flight termination system battery waiver; Starship ‘Ship 24’ and Super Heavy ‘B7’ prototypes to undergo full stack WDR / hot fire testing at SpaceX Starbase in TX, from which possible October or likely November orbital test launch is to occur, with B7 splashing down in Gulf of Mexico and Ship 24 soft landing in Pacific 100-km NW of Kauaʻi
As directed by congress in NASA Authorization Act of 2022, the agency is to appoint Director of Moon to Mars office, responsible for development of “an integrated master plan, integrated master schedule, and integrated risk management procedures” and reporting to Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Administrator (T-B) Jim Free; Executive restructure comes amid stern warnings from prominent space community members to 
Potential landing areas for Artemis 3, with crewmembers including the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, to be revealed at media teleconference with NASA officials (L-R) Mark Kirasich, Jacob Bleacher, Sarah Noble and Prasun Desail; Regions are within 6° of MSP, are of scientific interest and contain viable landing sites; Criteria including communication coverage, illumination, and topographical considerations given weight in decision; NASA to outreach to “broader science community” to make final human landing site selection; 
Artemis 1 launching to Moon orbit NET 29 Aug with 10 rideshare cubesats, NASA test dummy Commander Moonikin Campos, DLR / ISA torso radiation ‘phantoms’ Helga & Zohar, mascots Snoopy & Shaun the Sheep; Race to landings led by ispace, aiming for Nov launch, Astrobotic working to launch NET Dec, seeking to acquire Masten assets with US$4.5M bid; Intuitive Machines striving for Jan 2023 followed by ISRO Chandrayaan-3 NET Q1, JAXA SLIM NET March and Roscosmos Luna-25 NET September; Xplore of Redmond WA and Turkish Space Agency have also declared for uncrewed lunar orbit in 2023, SpaceX plans crewed dearMoon
Summer around Moon well underway with KARI KPLO Danuri joining NASA Capstone (operated by Advanced Space) on fuel efficient ballistic lunar transfer trajectory; Danuri expected to reach Moon orbit by 16 Dec, Capstone to arrive 13 Nov; NASA Artemis 1 (SLS megarocket + Orion crew capsule) to take direct 4-day trans-lunar injection route, rollout to KSC pad 39B anticipated 19 Aug, nominal launch date set for 29 Aug; ispace Hakuto-R targets launch to Lacus Somniorum ‘Lake of Dreams’ in Nov; Astrobotic Peregrine working towards Q4 launch to Lacus Mortis ‘Lake of Death’