This mission will only be in LEO (low earth orbit) and will test the docking systems for SpaceX and/or Blue Origin's lunar landers.
Artemis III includes launching the world’s most powerful rockets in short order. Blue Origin’s lander pathfinder, which is able to stay in orbit for multiple weeks, will launch first and await the crew. NASA will send the astronauts aboard Orion by SLS to orbit Earth, before rendezvousing in space with the company’s lander test article and spending about two days docked together for tests and technology demonstrations, including entering the lander.
After completing docked operations with Blue Origin, Orion will detach and await Starship. SpaceX’s Starship pathfinder will launch and meet up with Orion to spend about a day connected for checkouts and testing. After that, Orion and its crew will undock and return home, splashing safely down in the Pacific Ocean where a team from the U.S. Navy and NASA will recover the astronauts.
In total, the crew is expected to remain in space for about two weeks, with exact mission length to be determined in real-time based on launch, rendezvous, and docked operations.
This is also the first Artemis mission that includes an astronaut from the ESA (European Space Agency).
Do you think we’ll actually get to the big Moonbase phases of the Artemis project?
Yes, but I don't think it will be the Artemis rocket that we have now due to the cost and the capabilities. With how fast the commercial sector is building bigger and more powerful rockets, I could see NASA pivot to the type of thing we are seeing with SpaceX launching to the Space Station.
I fully expect that once we get to the moon, we will not leave it. At a minimum, it serves as a really nice stop for further exploration of Mars
I think so too, unless everyone dies horribly. There's a lot of useful stuff that can be done from up there, entirely aside from future space exploration.