We Choose to Return to the Moon - What is the Artemis Program?

A concept rendering of an Artemis base camp on the Moon made by NASA.

It’s been over fifty years since the last human set foot on the Moon during the Apollo 17 mission. On December 14, 1972, the last ship of the Apollo Program left the Moon, ending the historic three-and-a-half-year era of discovery and exploration. The Apollo Program was the only time in history where humans went beyond low-Earth orbit and set foot on another celestial body. That’s all about to change.

Artemis I launched for the Moon November 16, 2022, marking the active beginning of NASA’s Artemis Program, the successor to Apollo. The unmanned rocket launch was designed to pave the way for humans to return to the Moon and end their fifty-year absence, perhaps to stay for good this time. The Artemis program uses the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, a super-heavy lift rocket descended from the technology of the retired Space Shuttle, to escape Earth. NASA used what they learned from both the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs to make the SLS the world’s most powerful rocket. The Moon may not seem that far away, but the farthest humans have traveled from Earth since Apollo 17 is the International Space Station, which orbits about 420 kilometers above the surface of the Earth. By contrast, the Moon is about 384,000 kilometers away from Earth, almost 1,000 times more distant. That’s the equivalent of comparing a trip across town to a trip across the country. Even with such vast distances, the SLS is capable of not just traveling to the Moon, but even beyond.

Artemis I was an unmanned launch, therefore it took no people to the Moon, but it was designed as a critical testing phase to pave the way for humanity’s eventual lunar return during the upcoming Artemis II mission. There’s a lot that can go wrong in a rocket launch, especially one going as far as the Moon. Artemis I served as a proof-of-concept that everything planned does in fact work as planned before any human lives are risked. Artemis did, however, carry some special passengers. A manikin, affectionately named Commander Moonikin Campos, after Arturo Campos who helped to save the lives of the crew of Apollo 13, was stationed at the commander’s seat in order to provide data on what an actual astronaut might experience. The manikin was joined by a Snoopy doll, continuing the legacy of partnership between the iconic beagle and NASA from the Apollo days, as well as a Shaun the Sheep doll to represent the European Space Agency.

Artemis I launched from the Kennedy Space Center, just like Apollo before it, on November 16 at 1:47 am Eastern Time after numerous delays. After just 18 minutes in flight, it already traveled further than the International Space Station. After completing two flybys of the Moon, the Orion spacecraft, where the astronauts will actually ride in future missions, returned to Earth and successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after its month-long trip on December 11.

With Artemis I’s successful mission behind them, NASA is now looking towards the future with the upcoming Artemis II mission, which is planned to launch sometime in early 2026. Artemis II will not land on the Moon, but it will be fully crewed. Continuing in the spirit of safety and caution, the crew of the Artemis II will not be repeating Neil Armstrong’s small step quite yet. Instead, they will follow a similar trajectory to Artemis I to the Moon and back to ensure that everything is as ready as can be for the first manned Moon landing in over fifty years with the Artemis III mission, currently planned to launch some time in 2027, assuming all goes well with Artemis II.

Beyond Artemis III, the ultimate goal of the Artemis Program isn’t simply to send people to the Moon, but to establish a long-term presence. NASA currently has plans up to the Artemis V mission in 2030, as well as tentative plans up through Artemis X, with each of the subsequent missions lying the groundwork for a base and extended habitation of the Moon. This includes the Lunar Gateway, a station in moon-orbit that will serve as a hub for science and exploration and, eventually, habitats on the surface. By targeting the Lunar South Pole, NASA hopes to harvest water ice, a resource that could eventually be turned into fuel. This makes the Moon a vital steppingstone for our ultimate goal: Mars.

A base on the Moon will prove invaluable to our efforts to eventually send humans to Mars and beyond in our solar system. Launching a rocket from the Moon is both far safer and cheaper than launching a rocket from Earth, given that the Moon has only one-sixth the gravity of Earth, making rockets weigh one-sixth the weight. The most dangerous and costly part of launching a rocket is escaping Earth’s gravity. With that part no longer a consideration, a rocket constructed on the Moon, powered by fuel made from water on the Moon, could make it to Mars far easier than one from Earth. So, really, the Moon is just one small step before the giant leap forward in space exploration.