NASA is targeting 2025 for the launch of the Artemis II mission to fly astronauts around the Moon.
By the end of the decade, NASA hopes to set the first woman and first person of colour on surface of the Moon.
While Artemis III will put feet on the lunar surface, Artemis II will be the first crewed mission of the programme, and will see its crew travel round the Moon and back to Earth.
NASA had targeted November 2024 for the launch of Artemis II, but in January 2024 NASA said it would push back both the Artemis II and Artemis II missions.
Find out more about NASA's Artemis programme
Where the Artemis II mission will go
The Artemis II crew consists of commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch from NASA.
All of whom will be making their second spaceflights.
They will be joined by Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, making his first flight.
Artemis II follows the launch of Artemis I in November 2022.
It will mark the first time a crew has flown aboard either the Space Launch System (SLS) or the Orion crew capsule.
Initially, the crew will conduct a 90-minute orbit of Earth, followed by a longer 42-hour orbit.
This will allow them time to test life-support systems through a full cycle of activity, exercise and rest.
The capsule will then set course for the Moon, along a free-return trajectory that will carry it in a figure-of-eight path around the Moon.
The capsule will travel out 7,400km beyond the Moon’s far side, the farthest distance a human has ever travelled around the back-side, far enough away that the crew will be able to see both the Moon and Earth together out of the capsule’s window.
The crew will then return home, splashing down 10 days after the mission began.
Looking ahead to Artemis III
If all goes well with this mission then Artemis III will be the first landing mission, due to launch in September 2026.
The goal with the Artemis programme is not merely to conduct ‘flags and footprints’ missions, but to establish a more meaningful and lasting presence on the Moon.
At the same time, NASA will be aiming to launch the first sections of a permanent space station orbiting the Moon, called Lunar Gateway.
Once complete, future Artemis missions will be able to use this to conduct sojourns down to the lunar surface, establishing a much more long-term presence on the Moon.
NASA isn’t abandoning low-Earth orbit, however. In April Boeing plans on conducting the first crewed test flight of its Starliner spacecraft.
Veteran NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will pilot the craft, docking with the International Space Station for several days to test all systems are operational.
If all goes well, Starliner will enter into regular rotation ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
The next few years will certainly be busy ones in the realm of human spaceflight.
What do you think about NASA's Artemis programme to return humans to the Moon? Let us know by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com.
This article appeared in the January 2024 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine
