Former NASA astronaut Steve Robinson spoke with NBC News’ Gadi Schwartz about new details on the Artemis III mission, scheduled for next year.

The agency still has big decisions to make, but the preliminary mission plans include some interesting choices.

Following the roaring success of NASA's Artemis II mission, the space agency is devising plans for a final test flight before attempting to land the first humans on the moon in decades, as soon as 2028.

NASA announced Wednesday that it will fly the Artemis III mission in low-Earth orbit and that it continues to target 2027 for this stepping-stone flight that will help land humans on the Moon. The space agency chose the orbit close to Earth—as opposed to a higher orbit—because it would preserve the final remaining Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage for launching the Artemis IV landing mission later this decade.

Artemis III will help NASA prepare for their next big goal, which is to land astronauts near the south pole of the Moon during Artemis IV.

For years, Artemis III was expected to mark humanity’s long-awaited return to the Moon’s surface, but NASA has now confirmed a dramatic change in plans. The mission will no longer include a crewed

The mission will place Orion astronauts in low Earth orbit alongside next-generation lunar lander systems under development by Blue Origin and SpaceX. NASA believes the approach will expose technical and operational issues earlier,