Artemis program

• 1. Origins And Policy Shifts

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  On the 11th of December 2017, President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-1. This executive order officially re-established the national space policy for a human return to the Moon. The directive called for NASA to lead an innovative and sustainable program with commercial and international partners. It aimed to enable human expansion across the Solar System. Before this moment, the Constellation program had been cancelled in 2010 by President Barack Obama. That earlier effort included the Ares I rocket and the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. The Augustine Committee concluded that Constellation was massively underfunded. They stated a 2020 Moon landing was impossible. In May 2009, Obama established the committee to review objectives including support for the International Space Station. On the 15th of April 2010, Obama announced plans to cancel non-Orion elements of Constellation. He proposed US$6 billion in additional funding instead. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 required immediate development of the Space Launch System as a follow-on launch vehicle. It continued development of a Crew Exploration Vehicle capable of supporting missions beyond low Earth orbit starting in 2016. The law also invested in space technologies tied to the overall framework. On the 30th of June 2017, Trump signed an executive order to re-establish the National Space Council. Vice President Mike Pence chaired the council. The administration kept human spaceflight programs like Commercial Resupply Services and Commercial Crew Development in place. They reduced Earth science research and called for eliminating NASA's education office. The Artemis program draws upon legacy US spacecraft programs including the Orion capsule. It creates entirely new programs such as the Human Landing System. The campaign intends to more effectively organize government, private industry, and international efforts toward returning humans to the Moon.

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• 2. Spacecraft And Launch Systems

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  The Space Launch System is a United States super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle under development since its announcement in 2011. It serves as the main Earth-launch vehicle for the Artemis lunar program. NASA is required by Congress to use SLS Block 1 to lift a payload of 95 metric tons to low Earth orbit. This version will launch Artemis I, II, and III. Starting in 2028, Block 1B is intended to debut the Exploration Upper Stage. It will launch notional missions from Artemis IV through VII. Starting in 2029, Block 2 plans to replace initial Shuttle-derived boosters with advanced boosters. Block 2 would have a Low Earth Orbit capability of more than 130 metric tons. The SLS launches the Orion spacecraft using ground operations at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In October 2019, NASA authorized Boeing to purchase materials in bulk for more rockets. The contract supported up to ten core stages and eight Exploration Upper Stages. On the 7th of February 2025, Boeing informed employees working on the rocket that they may be laid off when their contract expires. This suggested the Trump Administration might propose canceling the SLS. The release of Trump's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal on May 2 involved cutting $6 billion from NASA's budget. If approved, the budget would cancel the SLS after Artemis III due to its cost of $4 billion per launch. On the 4th of July 2025, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This allocated $4.1 billion for development of Space Launch System rockets for Artemis IV and V. The Orion spacecraft consists of a Crew Module designed by Lockheed Martin. It includes a European Service Module manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. Orion is capable of supporting a crew of six beyond low Earth orbit. It features solar panels, an automated docking system, and glass cockpit interfaces modeled after Boeing 787 Dreamliner systems. A single AJ10 engine provides primary propulsion. An uncrewed version launched during Exploration Flight Test-1 in 2014. By 2022, three flight-worthy Orion crew modules had been built. The first was originally scheduled for the 30th of November 2020 but did not launch until the 16th of November 2022.

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• 3. Mission Timeline And Execution

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  Artemis I successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center at 01:47:44 EST on the 16th of November 2022. The mission completed at 09:40 PST on December 11 when the Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California. It traveled more than 1.3 million miles around the Moon before returning safely to Earth. The splashdown occurred exactly 50 years since NASA's Apollo 17 Moon landing. Artemis II is scheduled to launch as a crewed lunar flyby no earlier than the 8th of February 2026. The four crew members will perform extensive testing in Earth orbit. They will then be boosted into a free-return trajectory around the Moon. The European Service Module for this mission was completed and handed over to NASA in 2023. Testing continued on the Orion module for Artemis II. In April 2024, Lockheed was on track to hand over the module by September after testing finished. A NASA Office of Inspector General report released May 1 stated the mission remained on track provided corrective actions were made on the heat shield. On the 5th of December 2024, NASA delayed the mission from September 2025 to April 2026 citing damage found to the heat shield. In March 2025, NASA announced the mission might be accelerated to February 2026. On the 10th of January 2026, NASA released a launch window timeline with sixteen possible openings. The first window began the 7th of February 2026 at 02:41:00 AM UTC. The last window ended the 30th of April 2026 at 22:06:00 PM UTC. On the 30th of January 2026, it was announced that the launch would be postponed by two days to the 8th of February 2026 due to unusually cold weather. Artemis III is expected to launch no earlier than mid-2027 as the first crewed landing since Apollo 17. In February 2024, NASA completed full qualification testing of docking systems on Starship HLS. Also in February, bulk manufacturing for the SLS core stage was completed. In April 2024, NASA completed Starship's first internal propellant transfer demonstration. A ship-to-ship propellant transfer demonstration is expected in 2025. On the 5th of December 2024, NASA delayed Artemis III from September 2026 to mid-2027 citing heat shield damage found during Artemis I.

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• 4. Commercial Partnerships And Infrastructure

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  In March 2018, NASA established the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program with the aim of sending small robotic landers mostly to the lunar south pole region. The main goals include scouting lunar resources and testing principles for in-situ resource utilization. On the 31st of May 2019, three companies were awarded lander contracts: Astrobotic Technology, Intuitive Machines, and OrbitBeyond. On the 29th of July 2019, NASA granted OrbitBeyond's request to be released from obligations under the contract citing internal corporate challenges. In November 2019, NASA added five contractors eligible to bid to send large payloads including Blue Origin, Ceres Robotics, Sierra Nevada Corporation, SpaceX, and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems. In April 2020, NASA selected Masten Space Systems for a follow-on CLPS delivery of cargo to the Moon in 2022. Dave Masten blamed delays on the COVID pandemic and industry-wide supply chain issues. In February 2021, NASA selected Firefly Aerospace for a CLPS launch to Mare Crisium in mid-2023. In 2021, SpaceX's Starship HLS program was awarded the winning NASA bid for production of a crewed lunar landing vehicle. On the 19th of May 2023, NASA announced an additional contract to Blue Origin to develop a second crewed lunar lander. This will make its first crewed flight as part of Artemis V. The Blue Moon is smaller than the SpaceX HLS lander having only 20 tons of payload capacity. It is fueled with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants. The Falcon Heavy is used to launch the first two Gateway modules into Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit. It also launches the Dragon XL spacecraft on supply missions to Gateway. The Dragon XL is intended to be an expendable spacecraft that remains docked to Gateway for up to six months. It will be disposed of by deliberate crashes on the lunar surface.

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• 5. International Cooperation And Accords

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  On the 5th of May 2020, Reuters reported that the Trump administration was drafting a new international agreement outlining laws for mining on the Moon. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine officially announced the Artemis Accords on the 15th of May 2020. It consists of multilateral agreements between governments of participating nations grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. Some American researchers criticized it as a concerted strategic effort to redirect international space cooperation in favor of short-term U.S. commercial interests. In late October 2020, NASA and European Space Agency finalized an agreement to collaborate in the Gateway program. ESA will provide a habitat module in partnership with JAXA called I-HAB. They also provide a refueling module named ESPRIT. Europe receives three flight opportunities to launch crew aboard Orion in return. Canada provides Canadarm3, a robotic arm system for the Gateway. Japan's JAXA contributes modules including the Lunar View element. On the 10th of January 2020, NASA's 22nd astronaut group graduated and were assigned to the Artemis program. The group includes two Canadian Space Agency astronauts. They earned the nickname Turtles from Hurricane Harvey. On the 9th of December 2020, Vice President Mike Pence announced the first group of 18 astronauts. This included nine male and nine female members from different backgrounds. Reid Wiseman said all 42 active members of the NASA Astronaut Corps are eligible for Artemis II and later flights. The International Habitation Module construction was underway as of April 2024. The HALO module reached substantial completion and entered stress test phase in mid-2024. It will be shipped from Europe to the US for configuration with the PPE module.

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• 6. Future Exploration And Sustainability

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  The Artemis Base Camp is the proposed lunar base to be established at the end of the 2020s. It will be located in the south pole region near Shackleton and de Gerlache craters. This area has abundant water ice believed to exist in the crater floors. The Base camp consists of three main modules: Surface Habitat modules, Lunar Terrain Vehicle, and Pressurized Rovers. In February 2020, NASA released requests for information regarding crewed and uncrewed surface rovers. The Lunar Terrain Vehicle would be prepositioned by a CLPS vehicle before the Artemis III mission. On the 3rd of April 2024, NASA announced Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab were developing the LTV. Their proposals cost between $1.692 billion and $1.928 billion. A pressurized rover called the Mobile Habitat could support crews for up to 14 days. Mark Kirasich stated that leadership wanted to involve JAXA in major surface elements. He noted Japanese auto industry had strong interest in rover-type things. As of February 2020, a lunar stay during Phase 1 missions was about seven days with five extravehicular activities. Day 2 included EVA 1 which lasted six hours. Day 3 began EVA 2 where astronauts went up to 5 kilometers from the landing site. They traversed slopes as steep as 20 degrees. Day 6 involved deploying geotechnical instruments alongside environmental monitoring stations. Day 7 featured the final one-hour EVA mostly comprising preparations for lunar ascent. Once concluded, astronauts returned to the Human Landing System. It launched from the surface and joined Orion or Gateway. In 2022, NASA identified 13 candidate regions near the lunar South Pole for initial landing missions.

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