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99-630: The Artemis program is a Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1 . It is intended to reestablish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The program's stated long-term goal is to establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars . Two principal elements of

198-606: A near-rectilinear halo orbit and the program's sustainability. Orion's first launch on the Space Launch System was originally set in 2016, but faced numerous delays; it launched on 16 November 2022 as the Artemis I mission, with robots and mannequins aboard. According to plan, the crewed Artemis II launch is expected to take place in late 2025, the Artemis III crewed lunar landing is scheduled for late 2026,

297-567: A Canadian-built robotic arm system for the Gateway. Also delivered will be NASA's Lunar Terrain Vehicle . Launch is scheduled for no earlier than March 2030. The mission will also be the first to use Blue Origin 's Blue Moon lander to take astronauts to the Moon's surface. Artemis VI (2031) is planned to be the fourth crewed lunar landing, which will integrate the Crew and Science Airlock with

396-754: A Human Landing System. NASA Chief Financial Officer Jeff DeWit said he thought the agency has "a very good shot" to get this budget through Congress despite Democratic concerns around the program. However, in July 2020 the House Appropriations Committee rejected the White House's requested funding increase. The bill proposed in the House dedicated only US$ 700 million toward the Human Landing System, 81% (US$ 3 billion) short of

495-495: A Moon flyby on a night of October 28, 2014, after which it entered elliptical Earth orbit, exceeding its designed lifetime by four times. The Beresheet lander operated by Israel Aerospace Industries and SpaceIL impacted the Moon on April 11, 2019, after a failed landing attempt. Following the abandoned US Constellation program , plans for crewed flights followed by moonbases were declared by Russia, ESA , China, Japan, India, and South Korea. All of them intend to continue

594-562: A domestic American capability to get back and forth to the surface of the moon.". The first commercial mission to the Moon was accomplished by the Manfred Memorial Moon Mission (4M), led by LuxSpace , an affiliate of German OHB AG . The mission was launched on 23 October 2014 with the Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 test spacecraft, attached to the upper stage of a Long March 3C /G2 rocket. The 4M spacecraft made

693-595: A free return to Earth in the event of a propulsion system malfunction on the way to the Moon. This was used on Apollo 13 , when an oxygen tank rupture necessitated return to Earth without firing the Service Module engine, although a number of course corrections using the Lunar Module descent engine were used to refine the trajectory. A number of proposed, but not flown, crewed missions have been planned to intentionally conduct circumlunar flybys, including

792-520: A lunar orbiter called ICUBE-Q along with Chang'e 6. In 2007, the X Prize Foundation together with Google launched the Google Lunar X Prize to encourage commercial endeavors to the Moon. A prize of $ 20 million was to be awarded to the first private venture to get to the Moon with a robotic lander by the end of March 2018, with additional prizes worth $ 10 million for further milestones. As of August 2016, 16 teams were reportedly participating in

891-473: A number of experiments and observations, concluding it was a combination of the Moon's own light and the Moon's ability to absorb and emit sunlight. By the Middle Ages , before the invention of the telescope, an increasing number of people began to recognise the Moon as a sphere, though many believed that it was "perfectly smooth". In 1609, Galileo Galilei drew one of the first telescopic drawings of

990-441: A precedent helping to define regulatory standards for deep-space commercial activity in the future. Previously, private companies were restricted to operating on or around Earth. On 29 November 2018, NASA announced that nine commercial companies would compete to win a contract to send small payloads to the Moon in what is known as Commercial Lunar Payload Services . According to NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine , "We are building

1089-515: A support mission to place a Starship Human Landing System (HLS) in a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) of the Moon prior to the launch of SLS/Orion. After Starship HLS reaches NRHO, SLS/Orion will send the Orion spacecraft with a crew of four to dock with HLS. Two astronauts will transfer to HLS, which will descend to the lunar surface and spend about 6.5 days on the surface. The astronauts will perform at least two Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) on

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1188-469: Is planned for availability before Artemis IV. The Gateway will be resupplied and supported by launches of Dragon XL spacecraft launched by Falcon Heavy. Each Dragon XL will remain attached to Gateway for up to six months. The Dragon XLs will not return to Earth, but will be disposed of, probably by deliberate crashes on the lunar surface. The Artemis program incorporates several major components of previously cancelled NASA programs and missions, including

1287-590: Is planned to be the first crewed test flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft. The four crew members will perform extensive testing in Earth orbit, and Orion will then be boosted into a free-return trajectory around the Moon , which will return Orion to Earth for re-entry and splashdown. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than September 2025. Artemis III (2026) is planned to be the first American crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972. The mission depends on

1386-581: Is the fictional story of Callie Rodriguez, the first woman to explore the Moon. On 15 November 2021, an audit of NASA's Office of Inspector General estimated the true cost of the Artemis program at about $ 93 billion until 2025. In addition to the initial SpaceX contract, NASA awarded two rounds of separate contracts in May 2019 and September 2021, on aspects of the HLS to encourage alternative designs, separately from

1485-417: Is time to take longer strides – time for a great new American enterprise – time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth. ...For while we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first, we can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last. ...I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving

1584-628: Is what causes the Moon to shine. Persian astronomer Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi conducted various observations at the Al-Shammisiyyah observatory in Baghdad between 825 and 835. Using these observations, he estimated the Moon's diameter as 3,037 km (equivalent to 1,519 km radius) and its distance from the Earth as 346,345 km (215,209 mi). In the 11th century, the Islamic physicist Alhazen investigated moonlight through

1683-734: The Artemis IV docking with the Lunar Gateway is planned for late 2028, the Artemis V docking with the European Space Agency's ESPRIT , Canada's Canadarm3, and NASA's Lunar Terrain Vehicle is planned for early 2030, and the Artemis VI docking which is expected to integrate the Crew and Science Airlock with the Lunar Gateway station is planned for early 2031. After Artemis VI, NASA plans yearly landings on

1782-698: The Biden administration endorsed the Artemis program. More specifically, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki expressed the Biden administration's "support [for] this effort and endeavor". On 16 April 2021, NASA contracted SpaceX to develop, manufacture, and fly two lunar landing flights with the Starship HLS lunar lander. Blue Origin and Dynetics protested the award to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on 26 April. After

1881-514: The Chang'e 1 robotic lunar orbiter on October 24, 2007. Originally planned for a one-year mission, the Chang'e 1 mission was very successful and ended up being extended for another four months. On March 1, 2009, Chang'e 1 was intentionally impacted on the lunar surface completing the 16-month mission. On October 1, 2010, China launched the Chang'e 2 lunar orbiter. China landed the rover Yutu and

1980-425: The Chang'e 3 lander on the Moon on December 14, 2013, became the third country to have done so. Chang'e 3 is the first spacecraft to soft-land on lunar surface since Luna 24 in 1976. Since the Chang'e 3 mission was a success, the backup lander Chang'e 4 was re-purposed for the new mission goals. China launched on 7 December 2018 the Chang'e 4 mission to the lunar farside . On January 3, 2019, Chang'e 4 landed on

2079-792: The Constellation program and the Asteroid Redirect Mission . Originally legislated by the NASA Authorization Act of 2005 , Constellation included the development of Ares I , Ares V , and the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. The program ran from the early 2000s until 2010. In May 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama established the Augustine Committee to take into account several objectives including support for

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2178-582: The Indian Space Research Organisation , launched Chandrayaan-1 , an uncrewed lunar orbiter, on October 22, 2008. The lunar probe was originally intended to orbit the Moon for two years, with scientific objectives to prepare a three-dimensional atlas of the near and far side of the Moon and to conduct a chemical and mineralogical mapping of the lunar surface. The orbiter released the Moon Impact Probe which impacted

2277-606: The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) second stage, which performs the trans-lunar injection burn to send Orion to lunar space. For Artemis I, Orion braked into a polar distant retrograde lunar orbit and remained for about six days before boosting back toward Earth. The Orion capsule separated from its service module, re-entered the atmosphere for aerobraking , and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean under parachutes. Artemis II (2025)

2376-567: The International Space Station , development of missions beyond low Earth orbit (including the Moon, Mars, and near-Earth objects ), and use of the commercial space industry within defined budget limits. The committee concluded that the Constellation program was massively underfunded and that a 2020 Moon landing was impossible. Constellation was subsequently put on hold. On 15 April 2010, President Obama spoke at

2475-567: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). By 2017, the lander was planned to be launched in 2021, but this was delayed until 2023 due to delays in SLIM's ride-share mission, X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM). It was successfully launched on 6 September 2023 at 23:42 UTC (7 September 08:42 Japan Standard Time). On 1 October 2023, the lander executed its trans-lunar injection burn. It entered orbit around

2574-479: The Kennedy Space Center . Artemis I was completed at 09:40 PST (17:40 UTC) on 11 December, when the Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, west of Baja California, after a record-breaking mission, which saw Artemis travel more than 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) on a path around the Moon before returning safely to Earth. The splashdown occurred 50 years to

2673-672: The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter , on June 18, 2009, which has collected imagery of the Moon's surface. It also carried the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite ( LCROSS ), which investigated the possible existence of water in the crater Cabeus . GRAIL is another mission, launched in 2011. Following the decades-long lull in lunar exploration in the aftermath of the Cold War, the main push of US lunar exploration goals has coalesced under

2772-592: The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 , which included requirements for the immediate development of the Space Launch System as a follow-on launch vehicle to the Space Shuttle , and continued development of a Crew Exploration Vehicle to be capable of supporting missions beyond low Earth orbit starting in 2016, while making use of the workforce, assets, and capabilities of the Space Shuttle program , Constellation program, and other NASA programs. The law also invested in space technologies and robotics capabilities tied to

2871-451: The far side of the Moon . This is China's second lunar sample return mission, the first was achieved by Chang'e 5 from the lunar near side four years earlier. It also carried a Chinese rover called Jinchan to conduct infrared spectroscopy of lunar surface and imaged Chang'e 6 lander on lunar surface. The lander-ascender-rover combination was separated with the orbiter and returner before landing on 1 June 2024 at 22:23 UTC. It landed on

2970-685: The 2030s were still intended as of May 2019. In mid-2019, NASA requested US$ 1.6 billion in additional funding for Artemis for fiscal year 2020, while the Senate Appropriations Committee requested from NASA a five-year budget profile which is needed for evaluation and approval by Congress . In February 2020, the White House requested a funding increase of 12% to cover the Artemis program as part of its fiscal year 2021 budget . The total budget would have been US$ 25.2 billion per year with US$ 3.7 billion dedicated toward

3069-688: The Apollo missions 11 through 17 (except Apollo 13 , which aborted its planned lunar landing). Luna 24 in 1976 was the last Lunar mission by either the Soviet Union or the U.S. until Clementine in 1994. Focus shifted to probes to other planets , space stations , and the Shuttle program . Before the "Moon race," the U.S. had pre-projects for scientific and military moonbases: the Lunex Project and Project Horizon . Besides crewed landings,

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3168-574: The Artemis III mission. A ship-to-ship propellant transfer demonstration to further prove out the capability is expected in 2025. The European Service Module for the mission was reported on track to be handed over to NASA in summer 2024. The first integrated test for the mission, which included the next generation space suits developed by Axiom Space, and the airlock module of Starship HLS was conducted in June 2024. The NASA Inspector General has called

3267-742: The Artemis program are derived from the now-cancelled Constellation program : the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System (SLS) (as a reincarnation of Ares V ). Other elements of the program, such as the Lunar Gateway space station and the Human Landing System , are in development by government space agencies and private spaceflight companies, collaborations bound by the Artemis Accords and governmental contracts. The Space Launch System, Orion spacecraft and

3366-568: The Artemis program, formulated in 2017. On 10 August 2023, Russia launched the Luna 25 mission, its first mission to the Moon since 1976. On 20 August, it crashed into the Moon after a guidance error that resulted in an anomalous orbit lowering maneuver. South Korea launched the lunar orbiter Danuri on 4 August 2022, and it arrived at the Moon on 16 December 2022. This is the first phase of South Korea's lunar exploration program, with plans to launch another lunar lander and probe. Pakistan sent

3465-462: The GAO rejected the protests, Blue Origin sued NASA over the award, and NASA agreed to stop work on the contract until 1 November 2021 as the lawsuit proceeded. The judge dismissed the suit on 4 November 2021 and NASA resumed work with SpaceX. On 25 September 2021, NASA released its first digital, interactive graphic novel in celebration of National Comic Book Day. "First Woman: NASA's Promise for Humanity"

3564-659: The Gateway space station. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than March 2031. As of 2024, the Airlock module is under construction. Support missions include robotic landers, delivery of Gateway modules, Gateway logistics, delivery of the HLS, and delivery of elements of the Moon base. Most of these missions are executed under NASA contracts to commercial providers. Under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, several robotic landers will deliver scientific instruments and robotic rovers to

3663-407: The Human Landing System form the main spaceflight infrastructure for Artemis, and the Lunar Gateway plays a supporting role in human habitation. Supporting infrastructures for Artemis include the Commercial Lunar Payload Services , development of ground infrastructures , Artemis Base Camp on the Moon, Moon rovers, and spacesuits. Some aspects of the program have been criticized, such as the use of

3762-515: The Kennedy Space Center , announcing the administration's plans for NASA and cancelling the non-Orion elements of Constellation on the premise that the program had become nonviable. He instead proposed US$ 6 billion in additional funding and called for development of a new heavy-lift rocket program to be ready for construction by 2015 with crewed missions to Mars orbit by the mid-2030s. On 11 October 2010, President Obama signed into law

3861-641: The Lunar Environment Monitoring Station, or LEMS. LEMS will characterize the regional structure of the Moon's crust and mantle to inform the development of lunar formation and evolution models. Another instrument is Lunar Effects on Agricultural Flora, a.k.a. LEAF, which will investigate the impact of the lunar surface environment on space crops. The third instrument is the Lunar Dielectric Analyzer, or LDA, an internationally contributed payload that will measure

3960-648: The Lunar surface before impacting it in July 1964. A number of problems with launch vehicles, ground equipment, and spacecraft electronics plagued the Ranger program and early probe missions in general. These lessons helped in Mariner 2 , the only successful U.S. space probe after Kennedy's famous speech to congress and before his death in November 1963. U.S. success rates improved greatly from Ranger 7 onward. In 1966,

4059-451: The Moon in 1959 by the Soviet Union, and culminated with the landing of the first humans on the Moon in 1969, widely seen around the world as one of the pivotal events of the 20th century and of human history in general. The first artificial object to fly by the Moon was uncrewed Soviet probe Luna 1 on January 4, 1959, and went on to be the first probe to reach a heliocentric orbit around

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4158-498: The Moon almost completely lacked maria . The first American probe to fly by the Moon was Pioneer 4 on March 4, 1959, which occurred shortly after Luna 1. It was the only success of eight American probes that first attempted to launch for the Moon. In an effort to compete with these Soviet successes, U.S. President John F. Kennedy proposed the Moon landing in a Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs : Now it

4257-432: The Moon at 15:04 GMT on November 14, 2008. The orbitor was able to detect a widespread presence of water molecules in the lunar soil. This mission was followed up by Chandrayaan-2 , which launched on July 22, 2019, and entered lunar orbit on August 20, 2019. Chandrayaan-2 also carried India's first lander and rover, but due to a last minute technical glitch in the landing system, the spacecraft crash-landed. Chandrayaan-2

4356-497: The Moon from then on. However, the NASA Inspector General has called the schedules unrealistic. The Artemis program is organized around a series of SLS missions. These space missions will increase in complexity and are scheduled to occur at intervals of a year or more. NASA and its partners have planned Artemis I through Artemis V missions; later Artemis missions have also been proposed. Each SLS mission centers on

4455-467: The Moon in his book Sidereus Nuncius and noted that it was not smooth but had mountains and craters. Later in the 17th century, Giovanni Battista Riccioli and Francesco Maria Grimaldi drew a map of the Moon and gave many craters the names they still have today. On maps, the dark parts of the Moon's surface were called maria (singular mare ) or seas, and the light parts were called terrae or continents. Thomas Harriot , as well as Galilei, drew

4554-425: The Moon on 25 December 2023, and landed on 19 January 2024 at 15:20 UTC. As a result, Japan became the fifth country to soft land on the surface of the Moon. Since then, it has survived 4 lunar days and 3 lunar nights. The European Space Agency launched a small, low-cost lunar orbital probe called SMART 1 on September 27, 2003. SMART 1's primary goal was to take three-dimensional X-ray and infrared imagery of

4653-438: The Moon's surface on 1 June 2024. The ascender was launched back to lunar orbit on 3 June 2024 at 23:38 UTC, carrying samples collected by the lander, and later completed another robotic rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. The sample container was then transferred to the returner, which landed on Inner Mongolia on 25 June 2024, completing China's far side extraterrestrial sample return mission. India's national space agency,

4752-417: The Moon. In September 1968 the Soviet Union's Zond 5 sent tortoises on a circumlunar mission, followed by turtles aboard Zond 6 in November. On December 24, 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 — Frank Borman , James Lovell and William Anders —became the first human beings to enter lunar orbit and see the far side of the Moon in person. Humans first landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. The first humans to walk on

4851-605: The Moon. Hevelius's nomenclature, although used in Protestant countries until the eighteenth century, was replaced by the system published in 1651 by the Jesuit astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli , who gave the large naked-eye spots the names of seas and the telescopic spots (now called craters) the name of philosophers and astronomers. In 1753, the Croatian Jesuit and astronomer Roger Joseph Boscovich discovered

4950-598: The NASA administrator to "lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the Solar System and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities". The effort intends to more effectively organize government, private industry, and international efforts toward returning humans to the Moon and laying the foundation of eventual human exploration of Mars . Space Policy Directive 1 authorized

5049-452: The Space Launch System, and the Orion spacecraft for deep space missions, while reducing Earth science research and calling for the elimination of NASA's education office. On 11 December 2017, President Trump signed Space Policy Directive 1 , a change in national space policy that provides for a U.S.-led, integrated program with private sector partners for a human return to the Moon, followed by missions to Mars and beyond. The policy calls for

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5148-501: The Sun. Few knew that Luna 1 was designed to impact the surface of the Moon. The first probe to impact the surface of the Moon was the Soviet probe Luna 2 , which made a hard landing on September 14, 1959, at 21:02:24 UTC. The far side of the Moon was first photographed on October 7, 1959, by the Soviet probe Luna 3 . Though vague by today's standards, the photos showed that the far side of

5247-505: The USSR accomplished the first soft landings and took the first pictures from the lunar surface during the Luna 9 and Luna 13 missions. The U.S. followed Ranger with the Surveyor program sending seven robotic spacecraft to the surface of the Moon. Five of the seven spacecraft successfully soft-landed, investigating if the regolith (dust) was shallow enough for astronauts to stand on

5346-527: The abandoned Soviet crewed lunar programs included the building of a multipurpose moonbase " Zvezda ", the first detailed project, complete with developed mockups of expedition vehicles and surface modules. In 1990, Japan's JAXA visited the Moon with the Hiten spacecraft, becoming the third country to place an object in orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft released the Hagoromo probe into lunar orbit, but

5445-485: The absence of atmosphere on the Moon. In 1824, Franz von Paula Gruithuisen explained the formation of craters as a result of meteorite strikes. The now disproven possibility that the Moon contains vegetation and is inhabited by selenites was seriously considered by major astronomers of the early modern period even into the first decades of the 19th century. In 1834–1836, Wilhelm Beer and Johann Heinrich Mädler published their four-volume Mappa Selenographica and

5544-479: The agency $ 2.5 billion, more than six times its original value and may not be ready to support a launch until 2029, making the current launch schedule unrealistic. NASA has highlighted five key points for the mission (in chronological order): Artemis V is expected to launch in March 2030. The mission will launch four astronauts on a Space Launch System rocket and an Orion spacecraft to the Lunar Gateway and will be

5643-536: The book Der Mond in 1837, which firmly established the conclusion that the Moon has no bodies of water nor any appreciable atmosphere. The Cold War -inspired " space race " and " Moon race " between the Soviet Union and the United States of America accelerated with a focus on the Moon. This included many scientifically important firsts, such as the first photographs of the then-unseen far side of

5742-449: The competition. In January 2018 the foundation announced that the prize would go unclaimed as none of the finalist teams would be able to make a launch attempt by the deadline. In August 2016, the US government granted permission to US-based start-up Moon Express to land on the Moon. This marked the first time that a private enterprise was given the right to do so. The decision is regarded as

5841-420: The continued survey of the lunar surface through various lunar missions in preparation for the eventual establishment of non-temporary human outposts. It is believed by some that the oldest cave paintings from up to 40,000 BP of bulls and geometric shapes, or 20–30,000 year old tally sticks were used to observe the phases of the Moon, keeping time using the waxing and waning of the Moon's phases . One of

5940-491: The day since NASA's Apollo 17 Moon landing, the last human crewed mission to touch down on the lunar surface. Artemis II is scheduled to launch in September 2025 as a crewed lunar flyby. The European Service Module for the mission was completed and handed over to NASA in 2023. Testing is underway on the Orion module for Artemis II. In April 2024, Lockheed was on track to hand over the Orion module by September after testing

6039-422: The development schedule for Artemis III unrealistic and estimated that the Moon landing could be pushed to as late as 2028, saying that NASA officials had raised the possibility of using Artemis III to complete an additional fly-by of the Moon rather than a lunar landing mission. In March 2024, NASA announced the scientific instruments to be included on the mission were a compact, autonomous seismometer suite called

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6138-413: The docking systems on Starship HLS . Also in February, the bulk of the manufacturing for the core stage of the SLS to be used in the mission was completed. In April 2024, NASA announced the successful completion of Starship’s first internal propellant transfer demonstration. The Starship’s tanker variant ability to act as an orbital propellant depot to Starship HLS is a key capability necessary to complete

6237-425: The earliest known possible depictions of the Moon is a 3,000 BCE rock carving Orthostat 47 at Knowth , Ireland. Lunar deities like Nanna/Sin featuring crescents are found since the 3rd millenium BCE. Though the oldest found and identified astronomical depiction of the Moon is the Nebra sky disc from c.  1800–1600 BCE . The ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras , whose non-religious view of

6336-402: The exploration of the Moon with more uncrewed spacecraft. India is planning and it is studying a potential collaboration with Japan to launch the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission in 2026–2028. Circumlunar trajectory The first spacecraft to fly a circumlunar trajectory was Luna 3 . Circumlunar trajectories were also used by Apollo missions prior to lunar orbit insertion, to provide

6435-439: The failure of the Long March 5 launch vehicle . However, after a successful return of flight by the Long March 5 rocket in late December 2019, China targeted its Chang'e 5 sample return mission for late 2020. China completed this mission on December 16, 2020, with the return of approximately 2 kilograms of lunar sample. China sent Chang'e 6 on 3 May 2024, which conducted the first lunar sample return from Apollo Basin on

6534-419: The far side of the Moon. Chang'e 4 deployed the Yutu-2 Moon rover, which subsequently became the current record distance-holder for lunar surface travel. Among other discoveries, Yutu-2 found that the dust at some locations of the far side of the Moon is up to 12 meters deep. China planned to conduct a sample return mission with its Chang'e 5 spacecraft in 2017, but that mission was postponed due to

6633-446: The first person of color , woman, and non-US citizen to go beyond low Earth orbit , respectively. Hansen and Sidey-Gibbons are Canadian and have been assigned by the Canadian Space Agency ; a 2020 treaty between the United States and Canada led to their involvement. Artemis III is expected to launch in September 2026 as the first crewed landing on the Moon since Apollo 17. In February 2024, NASA completed full qualification testing of

6732-422: The first leap in the quality of lunar observations. Galileo Galilei is generally credited as the first person to use a telescope for astronomical purposes, having made his own telescope in 1609, the mountains and craters on the lunar surface were among his first observations using it. Human exploration of the moon since Luna 2 has consisted of both crewed and uncrewed missions. NASA 's Apollo program has been

6831-409: The first telescopic representation of the Moon and observed it for several years. His drawings, however, remained unpublished. The first map of the Moon was made by the Belgian cosmographer and astronomer Michael van Langren in 1645. Two years later a much more influential effort was published by Johannes Hevelius . In 1647, Hevelius published Selenographia , the first treatise entirely devoted to

6930-486: The first two Lunar Gateway modules to NRHO. The extra power of this mission's SLS Block 1B will allow it to deliver the I-HAB Gateway module for connection to the Lunar Gateway. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than September 2028. Artemis V (2030) is planned to be the third crewed lunar landing, which will deliver four astronauts to the Lunar Gateway station. The mission will deliver the European Space Agency 's ESPRIT refueling and communications module and Canadarm3 ,

7029-720: The goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. ...let it be clear that I am asking the Congress and the country to accept a firm commitment to a new course of action—a course which will last for many years and carry very heavy costs... Full text   [REDACTED] Ranger 1 launched in August 1961, just three months after President Kennedy's speech. It would be three more years and six failed Ranger missions until Ranger 7 returned close up photos of

7128-473: The heavens was one cause for his imprisonment and eventual exile, reasoned that the Sun and Moon were both giant spherical rocks, and that the latter reflected the light of the former. Plutarch , in his book On the Face in the Moon's Orb , suggested that the Moon had deep recesses in which the light of the Sun did not reach and that the spots are nothing but the shadows of rivers or deep chasms. He also entertained

7227-478: The initial HLS development effort. It announced in March 2022 that it was developing new sustainability rules and pursuing both a Starship HLS upgrade (an option under the initial SpaceX contract) and new competing alternative designs. These came after criticism from members of Congress over lack of redundancy and competition, and led NASA to ask for additional support. Artemis I was originally scheduled for late 2016, and as delays accrued, eventually for late 2021, but

7326-425: The initial contract to commission an upgraded Starship HLS for Artemis IV and a separate contract to Blue Origin to develop a third crewed lunar lander, which will make its first crewed flight as part of the Artemis V mission. The first two Gateway modules (PPE and HALO) will be delivered to NRHO in a single launch using a Falcon Heavy launcher. Originally planned to be available prior to Artemis III, as of 2021 it

7425-400: The launch date was then pushed back to 29 August 2022. Various delays related to final infrastructure repairs and weather pushed the launch date further out. In October 2022, NASA launch managers decided on a new launch date in November, which were again slightly delayed due to preparation and weather. On 16 November at 01:47:44 EST (06:47:44 UTC), Artemis I successfully launched from

7524-474: The launch of an SLS launch vehicle carrying an Orion spacecraft . Missions after Artemis II will depend on support missions launched by other organizations and spacecraft for support functions. Artemis I (2022) was the successful uncrewed test of the SLS and Orion, and was the first test flight for both craft. The Artemis I mission placed Orion into a lunar orbit and then returned to Earth. The SLS Block 1 design uses

7623-514: The left aft assembly of the booster was stacked onto the Mobile Launcher. The stacking marked a crucial step for launch in late 2025. Artemis II is to be crewed by four astronauts: Commander Reid Wiseman , Pilot Victor J. Glover , Payload Specialist Christina Koch , and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen . Jenni Sidey-Gibbons is Hansen's backup; she will join the mission if Hansen is unable to. Glover, Koch, and Hansen are planned to be

7722-509: The light of the Moon was a reflection of the Sun. Mathematician and astrologer Jing Fang noted the sphericity of the Moon. Shen Kuo of the Song dynasty created an allegory equating the waxing and waning of the Moon to a round ball of reflective silver that, when doused with white powder and viewed from the side, would appear to be a crescent. Indian astronomer Aryabhata stated in his fifth-century text Aryabhatiya that reflected sunlight

7821-521: The lunar near side until the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon was made by the CNSA robotic spacecraft Chang'e 4 in early 2019, which successfully deployed the Yutu-2 robotic lunar rover. On 25 June 2024, China's Chang'e 6 conducted the first lunar sample return from the far side of the Moon. The current goals of lunar exploration across all major space agencies now primarily focus on

7920-433: The lunar surface after Artemis I. Additional CLPS missions are planned throughout the Artemis program to deliver payloads to the Moon base. These include habitat modules and rovers in support of crewed missions. A Human Landing System (HLS) is a spacecraft that can convey crew members from NRHO to the lunar surface, support them on the surface, and return them to NRHO. Each crewed landing needs one HLS, although some or all of

8019-570: The lunar surface were Neil Armstrong , commander of the U.S. mission Apollo 11 and his fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin . The first robot lunar rover to land on the Moon was the Soviet vessel Lunokhod 1 on November 17, 1970, as part of the Lunokhod programme . To date, the last human to stand on the Moon was Eugene Cernan , who as part of the Apollo 17 mission, walked on the Moon in December 1972. Moon rock samples were brought back to Earth by three Luna missions ( Luna 16 , 20 , and 24 ) and

8118-549: The lunar surface. SMART 1 entered lunar orbit on November 15, 2004, and continued to make observations until September 3, 2006, when it was intentionally crashed into the lunar surface in order to study the impact plume. China has begun the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program for exploring the Moon and is investigating the prospect of lunar mining , specifically looking for the isotope helium-3 for use as an energy source on Earth. China launched

8217-457: The lunar-focused campaign. The campaign, later named Artemis, draws upon legacy US spacecraft programs, including the Orion space capsule, the Lunar Gateway space station, and Commercial Lunar Payload Services , and creates entirely new programs such as the Human Landing System. The in-development Space Launch System is expected to serve as the primary launch vehicle for Orion, while commercial launch vehicles will launch various other elements of

8316-467: The mission (in chronological order): Exploration of the Moon The physical exploration of the Moon began when Luna 2 , a space probe launched by the Soviet Union , made a deliberate impact on the surface of the Moon on September 14, 1959. Prior to that the only available means of lunar exploration had been observations from Earth. The invention of the optical telescope brought about

8415-505: The mission (in chronological order): Artemis VI is expected to launch in March 2031. According to NASA, the primary objectives of this mission would be to integrate the Crew and Science Airlock Module with Gateway and complete the fourth crewed lunar surface expedition of the Artemis missions. As of 2024, the Airlock module is under construction by Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre . NASA has highlighted five key points for

8514-557: The module to the Gateway space station. SLS Block 1B manufacture began in March 2024. The I-Hab module construction was underway as of April 2024. In May 2024, it was reported NASA made significant progress towards completion of Mobile Launcher 2 (ML-2), the launch platform that will be used by the larger SLS Block 1B. However, in August 2024, the NASA Inspector General estimated that the launch platform could end up costing

8613-400: The only program to successfully land humans on the Moon , which it did six times on the near side in the 20th century. The first human landing took place in 1969, when the Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong touched down on the lunar surface, leaving scientific instruments upon the mission's completion and returning lunar samples to Earth. All missions had taken place on

8712-673: The overall space exploration framework, ensured continued support for Commercial Orbital Transportation Services , Commercial Resupply Services , and expanded the Commercial Crew Development program. On 30 June 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to re-establish the National Space Council , chaired by Vice-President Mike Pence . The Trump administration's first budget request kept Obama-era human spaceflight programs in place: Commercial Resupply Services, Commercial Crew Development,

8811-474: The possibility that the Moon was inhabited. Aristarchus attempted to compute the Moon's size and distance from Earth, although his estimated distance of 20 times Earth's radius (which had been accurately determined by his contemporary Eratosthenes ) proved to be about a third the actual average distance. Chinese philosophers of the Han dynasty believed the Moon to be energy equated to qi but recognized that

8910-465: The program. On 26 March 2019, Vice President Mike Pence announced that NASA's Moon landing goal would be accelerated by four years with a planned landing in 2024. On 14 May 2019, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced that the new program would be named Artemis , after the goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology who is the twin sister of Apollo . Despite the immediate new goals, Mars missions by

9009-584: The regolith's ability to propagate an electric field. Artemis IV is expected to launch in September 2028. Prior to the launch of the mission, a Falcon Heavy is planned to launch the first two Lunar Gateway elements: the Power and Propulsion Element and Habitation and Logistics Outpost , now scheduled for 2027 . Artemis IV will then be responsible for launching with a crew with the International Habitation Module (I-Hab) and adding

9108-412: The requested amount. In April 2020, NASA awarded funding to Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX for 10-month-long preliminary design studies for the HLS. Throughout February 2021, Acting Administrator of NASA Steve Jurczyk reiterated those budget concerns when asked about the project's schedule, clarifying that "The 2024 lunar landing goal may no longer be a realistic target [...]". On 4 February 2021,

9207-403: The spacecraft may be reusable. Each HLS must be launched from Earth and delivered to NRHO in one or more launches. The initial commercial contract was awarded to SpaceX for two Starship HLS missions, one uncrewed and one crewed as part of Artemis III. These two missions each require one HLS launch and multiple fueling launches, all on SpaceX Starship launchers. NASA later exercised an option under

9306-457: The surface before the HLS ascends to return them to a rendezvous with Orion. Orion will return the four astronauts to Earth. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than September 2026. Artemis IV (2028) is planned to be the second crewed lunar landing mission. Orion and an upgraded Starship HLS will dock with the Lunar Gateway station in NRHO prior to the landing. A prior support mission will deliver

9405-614: The third lunar landing of the Artemis program. In addition, Artemis V will deliver two new elements to the Gateway space station. After docking to the Gateway, two astronauts will board the Blue Moon lunar lander and fly it to the Lunar south pole to land near the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV). This will be the first lunar landing since Apollo 17 to use an unpressurized lunar rover. NASA has highlighted five key points for

9504-519: The transmitter failed, thereby preventing further scientific use of the spacecraft. In September 2007, Japan launched the SELENE spacecraft, with the objectives "to obtain scientific data of the lunar origin and evolution and to develop the technology for the future lunar exploration", according to the JAXA official website. In 2023, Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is a lunar lander mission of

9603-429: Was complete. A NASA OIG report released on May 1 reported the mission was still on track, provided corrective actions on the Orion heat shield were made. The Artemis II crew planned to conduct a series of trainings and simulations prior to launch, the first of which occurred in May. The SLS core stage for the mission was delivered to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in July 2024. Notably, the SLS core stage for Artemis II

9702-570: Was followed by Chandrayaan-3 , the third lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation. It also carried the lander named Vikram and the rover named Pragyan , and achieved the country's first soft landing near the south polar region of the Moon. The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and NASA launched the Clementine mission in 1994, and Lunar Prospector in 1998. NASA launched

9801-731: Was the last to be fully built at the Michoud Assembly Facility : future missions starting with Artemis III will have the core stage partly built after arriving at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, managed by Exploration Ground Systems , which was deemed to be more efficient by program officials. In July, the Orion spacecraft was moved from the testing cell to the altitude chamber inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at KSC. Rocket stacking operations began on 20 November 2024, when

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