The world hasn’t watched man set foot on the lunar surface since Dec. 11, 1972. For reference, the last time we visited the moon, the Vietnam War was in full force, the Watergate scandal had begun, and the first commercial video game “Pong” was released.
After 54 years and many technological innovations, the Artemis missions promise humanity a chance to return to the moon with a total of five missions spanning from 2022 to 2028 under the current estimated timeline.
Artemis II saw the four Artemis astronauts, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Jeremy Hansen, make a pass around the moon. The actual moon landing will not take place until Artemis IV in 2027. The final mission, Artemis V, will launch in 2028, where the astronauts will set up a moon outpost.
These missions aren’t just significant because they signal an expansion of humanity’s bounds, but they also represent a return to a focus on space exploration. After the Apollo missions, NASA’s budget decreased dramatically. In the 1970s, it went from $43 billion to $18 billion. The fact that the Artemis missions are launching is a big step back toward space exploration.
“I think there’s so much out there, and in order for us to understand ourselves, we need to understand our place in the universe,” said senior Rehan Gangji.
While it might seem like science fiction, NASA hopes to use this outpost as a launching pad for missions to Mars. Under NASA’s current timetable, these missions would take place in the 2030s and would lay the groundwork for the first human colony on another planet.
“I watched the launch,” said senior Daniel Rieflin. “It’s been forever since we’ve had an actual launch.”
Artemis II was one of the most important space missions for science in recent memory and was aimed at ushering in a new age for space exploration that will hopefully lead humanity to future missions, not just to the moon but to Mars and beyond.
