NASA’s Artemis I Launches To the Moon

Artemis I launches in the early morning of Nov. 16. - NASA

NASA’s Artemis I launched on Nov. 16, being the first flight of NASA’s superheavy rocket ship called the Space Launch System (SLS), and a key step of a three year program to establish a long-term human presence on the moon.

Artemis I will be an unmanned flight around the moon and back on the SLS. The Artemis Program will be the first time humans will go to the moon since the last Apollo mission, half a century ago.

NASA states on the Artemis webpage that the program will reach many goals, such as sending the first woman and first person of colour to the moon, and will prepare humans to stay on another planet while gathering data about the moon itself.

Being a multinational project, NASA is collaborating with the Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency, and Japanese Space Agency.

There are currently three steps to the mission. Artemis I launched earlier this month. Artemis II will be a test flight with the crew, orbiting the moon but not landing. This is planned to happen in the spring of 2024. The last step outlined is Artemis III, which will be the actual flight to the moon, occurring no earlier than 2025.

The long-term presence on the moon includes creating a base camp on the south pole of the moon, where astronauts will reside. The basecamp will include a lunar cabin, a rover, and a mobile home.

The entire project is projected to cost $93 billion USD by 2025, according to an audit by the Office of the Inspector General at NASA. The Inspector General’s Office also estimates SLS launches will cost $4.1 billion USD each.