CAPE CANAVERAL, Oct. 15 -- Before Artemis III flies, its four astronauts are due to rehearse the part of a launch nobody wants to use: the walk from the top of the mobile launcher to the emergency exit.

NASA said on Wednesday it will give an update at 2 p.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 23, at Kennedy Space Center on what it calls Artemis acceleration. Administrator Jared Isaacman, Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya and Artemis program manager Jeremy Parsons will take part. The agency said the briefing will cover Artemis III, which will send four astronauts to low Earth orbit next year, and how plans to return Americans to the Moon by 2028 are progressing.

The distinction matters. Artemis III is no longer a landing mission; it is a test of t...