Summary
Highlights
Between 1968 and 1972, America launched 9 human missions to the Moon, with 6 successful touchdowns. NASA's Artemis mission aims for a long-term human presence on and around the Moon, as well as a stepping stone for future human missions to Mars.
The Orion is a deep-space, human-rated spacecraft built in three parts: the crew module for up to 4 astronauts, the service module with life support and its own engine, and a launch abort system for emergency crew extraction.
NASA is building the Space Launch System (SLS) to launch the crew and heavy payloads. Comprising a cargo hold, an Exploration Upper Stage, a massive core stage, and two solid rocket boosters, it is the world's most powerful rocket, exceeding the Apollo era's Saturn V.
The SLS, weighing over 6 million pounds fully fueled, ignites its four RS-25 engines and two solid rocket boosters for launch. After two minutes, the solid rocket boosters are released, and at eight minutes, the core stage separates. The upper stage then places Orion into Earth orbit. After checks, the crew reignites the upper stage to escape Earth's gravity and set a course for the Moon, jettisoning the upper stage as they coast for days.
Unlike Apollo, Artemis utilizes a pre-staging approach. Commercial and international partners will position everything needed for lunar missions in advance, including rovers, science experiments, and human-rated systems. A dedicated lunar station called Gateway will orbit the Moon, allowing for robust lunar landers, strong communications, and expandability for future missions and partnerships. Gateway's unique halo orbit facilitates maneuvers for Mars missions and offers access to all parts of the Moon.
Upon approaching Gateway, Orion docks. Preselected crew members transfer to the lunar lander, while others remain on Gateway. The lunar lander system has three steps: descending from Gateway's halo orbit to a low lunar orbit, then to the surface, and finally launching from the Moon to ascend back to Gateway.
After returning to Orion and undocking from Gateway, the crew fires engines to break out of the halo orbit and sling the spacecraft around the Moon, setting a multi-day course back to Earth. Nearing Earth, the service module is released, and the crew module re-enters the atmosphere heat shield-first at 25,000 mph, enduring 5,000-degree temperatures. Parachutes deploy, slowing the craft to 20 mph for splashdown.
Each successful Artemis mission paves the way for the next wave of lunar explorers, proving humanity's readiness to go beyond.