NASA is daring to take the next step towards the moon: At the end of next year people are to fly around the moon on board a rocket, a continuation of the previously unmanned "Artemis" project. By the middle of the decade, the first moon landing in more than 50 years could succeed.
After the successful test of the "Artemis 1" moon mission, the US space agency NASA is still aiming for a manned launch of the "Artemis 2" mission for November 2024. "We're learning as much as we can from Artemis 1 to ensure we understand every aspect of our systems and use that knowledge to plan and execute the manned missions," said NASA Manager Jim Free. "Keeping our crew flying safely is the highest priority for 'Artemis 2'."
About a year after "Artemis 2", which includes a flight around the moon, another manned flight including moon landing is to follow with "Artemis 3". "Artemis 1" landed in December after almost 26 days in space in the Pacific. The unmanned capsule "Orion" traveled around 1.4 million miles through space, flew around the moon and collected important data. All planned milestones were checked off: flyby the moon, swing into orbit of the moon, swing out of orbit of the moon, flyby again and landing. The European Space Agency ESA and space agencies from several other countries are involved in "Artemis".
The unmanned test mission was considered an important step for the return of humans to the moon, with the long-term goal of a trip to Mars. The "Artemis" program, named after the Greek goddess of the moon, is intended to land a woman and a non-white person on the moon for the first time. NASA had brought the last people to the moon in 1972 with the "Apollo 17" mission. Overall, the United States was the only country to date to land twelve astronauts on the moon with the "Apollo" missions between 1969 and 1972.
