In 1969, NASA successfully landed the first people on the moon: this was the first of many Apollo Moon Missions. Over the course of 4 years, NASA had launched six missions, ⅚ being successful, and 11 total men on the moon, making history. Finally, the Apollo Missions came to a close in 1972. Since then, the United States hasn’t been to the moon. Until now.
According to NASA, “[u]nder Artemis, NASA will send astronauts on increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the moon, for scientific discovery, economic benefit, and to build out the foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.”
But why is NASA even doing these missions in the first place? What’s the goal? NASA’s main goal is to set up a long-term presence on the moon, meaning a permanent lunar space station, called Gateway. Not only will this maintain a U.S. presence on the Moon, but it will also prepare NASA and humanity for future Mars missions. Furthermore, there are many scientists who can learn about Earth from the Moon, meaning they will be able to determine new parts of Earth’s history.
There are four planned missions for the Artemis program, and so far, only one has been completed.
Artemis I was completed on Nov. 16, 2022. It was an uncrewed test flight that flew around the Moon and back, in a total of 25 days.
Photo Courtesy of John Kaus at NASA
The current mission, Artemis II, was the first manned mission for this project. With a total of four crew members and ten days to complete the mission, the crew flew around the far side of the moon to test the mission’s equipment, make new lunar discoveries of a previously unseen side of the moon, and test the Artemis Project’s spacecraft, named Orion. The mission launched on Apr. 1, 2026.
The Artemis III mission will also be manned, but this time it will not fly around the moon. Instead, it will be practicing docking Orion in order to safely connect Orion to other spacecraft when the moon mission arrives. Artemis III is planned to launch in mid-2027.
The final mission in this project will be Artemis IV, which will finally, after half a century, allow both the United States, and mankind as a whole, to step foot on the moon once again. Launching around 2028, this mission will have two crew members living on the moon for about a week and collecting data on countless things, including the moon’s environment, geologic samples, and countless experiments.
Furthermore, Artemis IV will set up the lunar space station, Gateway. Gateway isn’t only a US facility, but a global project, including countless countries like Canada and Japan. This space station will help humans’ with deep space observation, and also help scientists better study the South Pole of the moon. Due to the South Pole being colder, there is more of a chance for scientists to find frozen water, hence the space station being set up near there.
Reid Wiseman, Artemis II’s commander, has been a NASA astronaut since 2009. He is a Navy veteran and has been a Flight Engineer on the International Space Station (ISS). In his time on the ISS, the crew and Wisemen completed 300 experiments, focusing on all different aspects of Earth, space travel, psychology, and medicine. As of late, he was chosen to be the Commander for the Artemis II mission. The role of a commander is to ensure the safety of the crew and equipment. Furthermore, he is the chosen leader of the crew, meaning his decisions have ultimate rule over the mission. During emergencies, he is the one to make life or death decisions to keep not only the mission running smoothly, but the safety of all involved.
Victor J. Glover Jr. is the pilot of this mission. After being chosen in 2013, Glover has worked on countless missions, including piloting 1-Dragon Spacecraft, a flight to the ISS, and he also worked on the ISS. Prior to his work at NASA, he was a Naval Aviator in the Navy, which means that Glover is an officer who is qualified to pilot in either the Navy or the Marine Corps. A pilot’s role in a space mission is to manage the spacecraft’s systems, specifically during launches and reentry. Furthermore, they are second in command to the Commander of the mission.
Photo Courtesy of NASA
Michigan native and first woman on a Lunar Mission, Christina Koch, is one of the two mission specialists. Alongside Glover, Koch was chosen to be a NASA astronaut in 2013 and has served as a flight engineer on the ISS on countless missions. Furthermore, she has the record for the “longest single spaceflight done by a woman for a total of 328 days in space,” according to NASA. Along with that, she was a part of the first all-female spacewalk. As a specialist, she worked with evaluating the spacecraft throughout the mission, and testing and working with Orion’s emergency communication system: the Deep Space Network.
Lastly, Jeremy Hasan is the other mission specialist for this mission. Born in London, Ontario, Hasan joined the local Canadian air cadet squadron at the age of 12 and, four years later, earned his “Air Cadet Pilot wings”. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada with a degree in space science and has been a part of many aviation fighter squadrons since. In 2011, he graduated from the Astronaut Candidate Training, and has worked for mission control for the ISS. Though he is a Canadian citizen, he has a special NASA role: his job is to train both American and Canadian astronaut recruits. Currently, his main job is the Artemis II mission, where he monitored systems on Orion, and took important photos and observations of Earth and The Moon.
After a successful take off on April 1, the crew of Artemis II made countless discoveries on the far side of The Moon, including some craters. In fact, one of the craters was subsequently named after Reid Wisemen’s late wife, Carrol Wisemen. This moment quickly touched the hearts of many, as it picked up steam on social media.
There have been other emotional moments on this mission. Victor Glover made an inspirational remark about how “ ”
Lastly, one of the most notable parts of this mission is that these four astronauts broke the record for the farthest any human has traveled from Earth.
All in all, what does this mean for the future of space exploration? NASA expects that “[t]he first crewed Artemis flight marks a key step toward long‑term return to the Moon and future missions to Mars.” Despite seeming decades away, The Artemis Missions make our goal of Martian space travel, and deep space travel, closer to our reality, one light year at a time.
