On April 10, 2026, the Orion spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, bringing four astronauts home safely from the Artemis II mission. Artemis II was a 10-day lunar flyby and brought astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen out into space further than any humans have ever been. Led by Wiseman, Artemis II was a historic moment with Koch, Glover and Hansen being the first female, Black, and Canadian astronauts respectively to fly around the moon .
Artemis II kicked off on April 1 with a successful launch — the following 24 hours were focused mainly on checking flight systems. The second day of the mission was a trans-lunar injection where the interim cryogenic propulsion state, a rocket stage that provides propulsion for the spacecraft while in space, sent the Orion capsule on its three-day path towards the moon. During the fifth and sixth days, the spacecraft swung around the far side of the moon, reaching a maximum of 252,757 miles from Earth (4,102 miles further than Apollo 13 in 1970), before heading home. On day 10, the capsule re-entered Earth’s atmosphere at a speed 32 times faster than the speed of sound and safely landed in the Pacific Ocean at 5:07 P.M. PST. The Artemis II mission met its goals of validating life-support systems, deep-space capabilities, and navigation, ensuring better odds for future lunar landings and is regarded as a massive success.
So what’s next? Following Artemis I and II — Artemis I being an uncrewed test of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft orbiting the moon in 2022 — Artemis III is up next. Artemis III is planned for 2027 and will test commercial landers from the private companies SpaceX and Blue Origin. Four astronauts will launch in an SLS rocket which will separate from the upper stage Orion capsule shortly after reaching orbit. The astronauts in the Orion capsule will then dock with a private commercial spacecraft, testing the necessary docking needed for future Artemis missions which will focus on building a more permanent presence on the moon. It is still unknown if Blue Origin, SpaceX, or both companies will provide the private commercial spacecraft.
In early 2028, NASA aims to attempt the first lunar landing Artemis mission, marking Artemis IV as the mission that would put the first woman and person of color on the moon, and the first people there in the last 59 years. After Artemis IV launches, the crew will transfer from the Orion capsule to either the SpaceX or Blue Origin spacecraft in orbit for transportation to the surface of the moon. The commercial spacecraft will also carry the crew back into orbit after lunar touchdown, where the astronauts will then transfer back into the Orion spacecraft for re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Artemis V is planned for late 2028 and will follow the same procedure of Artemis IV if it is successful. NASA hopes to continue future Artemis missions once per year thereafter, with plans to construct a moon base that allows for long-term human habitation on the moon, with construction to begin as early as Artemis V.
As amazing as space travel is to humanity — advancing scientific progress and showcasing human ingenuity — governments primarily view it as a way to project global influence. Modern space exploration began in 1957 with the launch of the Sputnik 1 by the USSR, an achievement that rang alarm bells in Washington D.C. In 1961, amidst the Cold War, US President John F. Kennedy asked Congress to support the goal of having a man on the moon by the end of the decade. They obliged, and by 1966, NASA’s share of the federal budget peaked at 4.4%, with the Apollo program costing the US government $28 billion over its lifespan, per an analysis by The Planetary Society. Adjusted for inflation, that’s over $340 billion in today’s money. Even though Russia had more “firsts” in space, the US won the space race when it was the first to put a man on the moon.
With the prevalence of social media and increasing political polarization, America’s shared cultural moments are becoming fewer and fewer.
The Artemis mission broke that trend. Everyone was following the astronauts, especially online; NASA’s rocket launch live stream peaked at 10 million concurrent viewers across all platforms, according to digital marketing agency ALM. Locally, the Museum of Flight hosted an Artemis launch watch party, one of four official ones across the country. And many drove to a friend’s house or huddled behind a coworker’s computer and watched the astronauts together.
Today, we are in a new space race with another communist power: China. Our new primary cosmic foe is richer, more populous, and less bureaucratic than the USSR was. With its deep pockets, the Chinese National Space Administration and the Chinese Communist Party have ambitious plans for the country’s lunar program. China has spent $20 billion on its lunar program, second only to the US’ $80 billion. The country released a 10-year-long plan for its space program in 2021, and so far is on track to meet almost all of its targets, according to a report by Georgetown University. Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stated that China will have two Chinese astronauts on the lunar surface “before 2030,” while NASA has plans to do the same in 2028. While the world of space exploration is only part of the public consciousness whenever a new rocket launches, this is an important race to monitor. It is an important bellwether of China-US relations, yes. But more importantly, the moon represents a celestial body of untapped potential. While right now humanity has agreed to only get scientific data and conduct experiments on its rocky surface, it is an open secret that the moon possesses plenty of minerals that are impossible or hard to find on Earth. The moon has resources like Helium-3 and water which are vital for rocket fuel and life support. The moon is also a stepping stone for Mars, and whoever wins this race to dominate this new frontier may very well stay ahead for the race to Mars and beyond. Landing first serves as a massive symbol of technological and national superiority and prevents a gap where the U.S. appears to be losing its status as the leading global super power in the world. With both countries shooting for the moon, only time will tell which will land among the stars.
