When the uncrewed Artemis I mission launches on Monday, August 29, it’s just the first step toward the future of space exploration. The last crewed landing on the moon, Apollo 17, took place almost 50 years ago. The final Apollo mission record for longest manned spaceflight remains: 12.5 days. Through the Artemis program, which aims to land humans on the unexplored lunar south pole and eventually on Mars, astronauts will go on long-duration deep space missions that test all the limits of exploration. “We’re going back to the moon to learn to live, to work, to survive,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a press conference earlier this month. “How do you keep people alive in these hostile conditions? And we’re going to learn how to use the resources on the moon so we can build things in the future as we go — not a quarter of a million miles away, not a three-day trip — but millions and millions of miles away on a journey of months and months, if not years.” NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik discussed the importance of using lunar exploration as a way to prepare for the Mars landing during a NASA briefing on Saturday. When camping in the Alaskan wilderness, you wouldn’t just rely on new gear and shoes that haven’t broken in yet, he said. Mars is not the place to try new equipment for the first time. “We’re going to go to some local places a little closer first,” Bresnik said. “Then you can come home if your shoelaces break or something.” Astronauts have lived and worked on the International Space Station, which circles about 254 miles above the planet in low Earth orbit, for more than 20 years. Their experiences, which can last from six months to almost a year, have revealed how the microgravity environment affects the human body. “Every day I spent in person on the space station, I felt like I was walking on Mars,” said NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, chief of the Astronaut Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. “That’s why we’re up there. We’re trying to make life better on Earth and we’re trying to expand humanity into our solar system.” READ MORE: Artemis A by the numbers On Artemis II, scheduled for 2024, astronauts will follow a similar path to Artemis I — circling the moon at a greater distance than any of the Apollo missions. Artemis III, scheduled for late 2025, will land the first woman and the next man at the Moon’s south pole, where permanently shadowed areas may harbor ice and other resources that could sustain astronauts during long walks on the moon. “Our moon essentially acts as a celestial library right next door,” said Jacob Blitzer, NASA’s chief exploration scientist. “Moon rocks and moon ice basically serve as the books of this library. We can use them to begin to unravel how the solar system has evolved. This can really help us gain insight into what was going on here on Earth when life was building a base in the solar system.” The Artemis program involves establishing a permanent human presence on the moon and building an orbiting lunar outpost called Gateway. “We want to stay on the lunar surface and learn on the lunar surface so we can get the most science and know how to get to Mars,” said Jim Free, associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “On Apollo, we did incredible science at the equator. This time, we’re going to the South Pole.” Over time, the SLS rocket will evolve, Nelson said. By the time the Artemis IV mission reaches the launch pad later this decade to dock with Gateway, the rocket will be taller and even more powerful than the version used for Artemis I. Artemis I is a test mission, Nelson emphasized. It serves as the inaugural flight of the Space Launch System Rocket, the Orion spacecraft and its heat shield, as well as protective equipment for future astronauts and a measurement of radiation exposure. A series of science experiments and technology demonstrations inside Orion and flying outside it on small satellites called CubeSats will gather additional data about the space environment that future Artemis astronauts will encounter. Lessons learned from Artemis I, which will be collected when it launches in October, could inform the next steps of the Artemis program. Currently, the first five Artemis missions are planned, and NASA is working to determine the details for missions six through 10, Free said. NASA teams “go through the broad exploration goals and then narrow down to an architecture that gets us to Mars,” Free said. “We’re looking to move on that architecture, decisions and process early next year.” The goal of landing humans on Mars by 2033 was set by the Obama administration, and NASA administrators have supported the goal ever since. “With the launch of Artemis I on Monday, NASA is at a historic turning point, poised to launch the most important series of scientific and human exploration missions in a generation,” said Bhavya Lal, NASA associate for technology, policy and strategy.
