50 years ago, the last Apollo mission was completed by three NASA astronauts who splashed down into the Pacific Ocean. Less than a dozen years after President John F. Kennedy challenged the United States to commit itself to “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely back to the Earth,” that historic program had achieved its goals and ended.
Now, we’re going back. But this time it will be different.
At 1:47 AM, a pivotal moment in the return of crewed mission to the moon was achieved. The successful launch of Artemis I on November 16th, ET was a pivotal moment for crewed missions to the moon. As it lifted off the Florida coast on its maiden voyage, NASA’s high-powered Space Launch System rocket pushed the Orion capsule toward the moon, on a flight testing the technology that will bring astronauts, both men and women, back to the lunar surface.
“Everybody’s watching,” planetary geologist Jacob Bleacher of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C., said in anticipation of the launch. “We’re thrilled to be taking these steps, and get our presence on the moon.”
China and the United States lead the charge for new astronauts on the lunar surface. The two countries’ programs are massive and complex undertakings with potentially big payoffs. Both programs aim to improve scientific understanding about the moon, early Earth, and develop new technologies that can be used on Earth for space exploration.
Better than rovers
Apollo was “a technological program to serve political ends,” says space historian Teasel Muir-Harmony. It was inspired by the conflict and political tension between the United States of the Soviet Union. The program “was about winning the hearts and minds of the world public. It was a demonstration of world leadership … of the strength of democracy and then also of capitalism,” says Muir-Harmony, curator of the Apollo Spacecraft Collection at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and others took the first steps on Earth’s surface on July 20, 1969. Over the next few years, 10 more American men hopped, skipped and even drove across the pewter-colored, lifeless terrain of our planet’s only natural companion. Apollo 17 was the. final missionIn that series of landings, which ended on December 14, 1972 (SN: 12/23/72, p. 404). Humans stopped walking on the moon after the Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison H. Schmitt and Eugene Cernan, Harrison H. Schmitt, left footprints in lunar dust.
Two dozen spacecraft representing different countries have visited the moon in the years since Apollo 17. Some have orbited the moon, while others have crashed into the surface to study the material. Others have also landed on the surface. Brought back lunar samplesTo Earth (SN: 1/16/21, p. 7).
Although these uncrewed spacecraft made great progress in lunar exploration, human beings could do more. “Nothing can replace the value of having a human brain and human eyes there on the scene,” says geologist Jose Hurtado of the University of Texas at El Paso, who works with NASA on mission simulations and programs to train astronauts in geology.
He made his point during Apollo 17 for a brief moment. Schmitt was the only geologist who visited the moon and noticed a patch in the lunar soil that had a particular rusty color. After examining the area, he realized that it was evidence of an eruption. He and Cernan scooped up some of this orange soil for later Earth-based analyses, which revealed that the orange glass blobs in the soil did in fact form during a “fire fountain” explosion some 3.7 billion years ago.
That discovery supported the idea that the moon had hosted volcanoes in its youth, and additional analysis of the orange soil’s chemical composition hinted that the moon formed at around the same time as Earth. Scientists wouldn’t have had access to the orange soil if it wasn’t for Schmitt’s quick grasp that what he saw was important. “Probably the ultimate field tool is the well-trained human,” Hurtado says.
In 2005, he published the book Mars Roving, planetary scientist Steven Squyres wrote: “The unfortunate truth is that most things our rovers can do in a perfect [Martian day], a human explorer on the scene could do in less than a minute.” Squyres, of Cornell University, The Spirit and Opportunity rover missions to Mars were led by Opportunity and Spirit (SN: 8/13/22, p. 20).
A long-awaited lunar return
NASA began focusing on space stations after Apollo was over. This is to ensure that NASA can continue human spaceflight for a longer time. Skylab was launched in May 1973 and hosted four astronaut crews. The temporary station was destroyed in the atmosphere a few years later. NASA’s next space station, the International Space Station, or ISS, was a larger, collaborative project that’s been hosting astronauts since November 2000. It’s still orbiting roughly 400 kilometers above Earth.
U.S. leaders have occasionally tried to shift NASA’s gaze from low Earth orbit, where the ISS flies, to a more distant frontier. Presidents have suggested investments in different technology with different prices and different exploration goals. But by 2019, the plan was set: NASA would land humans on the moon’s south pole in 2024, though the timeline has since slipped.
“The first woman and the next man on the moon will both be American astronauts, launched by American rockets from American soil,” said Vice President Mike Pence in early 2019. Shortly after, NASA named this effort the Artemis program — after Apollo’s mythological twin sister.
The Artemis program is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars program, which aims to send humans farther into space than ever before. Astronauts will be able to step on the moon’s surface in 2025, and it is now up first. Learn from the space agency’s partners over the course of a few decades of lunar exploration to guide the next phases, including sending astronauts out to the Red Planet.
“The goal with Artemis is to build off everything we’ve done to this point and really start to establish a presence for humanity beyond low Earth orbit,” Bleacher
The first big test for Moon to Mars is to show that NASA’s rocket, the Space Launch System, or SLS, which has been in development for over a decade at a cost of more than $20 billion, can successfully launch a crew capsule, without the crew, beyond low Earth orbit.
However, it has not been easy. The Artemis I launch was delayed twice by fuel leaks. Now that it’s off the ground, Artemis I Will test the SLS rocket as well as the Orion advanced crew capsuleOn a nearly month-long trip to the moon and backSN: 8/26/22). Artemis II will be the second test flight. It will follow the same trajectory as Artemis I, but with astronauts aboard, and launch no earlier than 2024.
Artemis III is scheduled for 2025. It will be the first time that a woman has landed on the moon’s surface. The Orion crew spacecraft will be launched to the moon by the SLS rocket. The rocket will dock with the SpaceX-developed human landing system once it has reached lunar orbit. The SpaceX vehicle will carry two astronauts to the moon. They will stay there for 6.5 days. The landing system will also return the astronauts to Orion in lunar orbit.
NASA intends to operate Artemis missions about once a year, if everything goes as planned. “We hope to, through those missions that follow Artemis III, build up some infrastructure,” Bleacher says. The infrastructure will include hardware that can be used to distribute and develop power on the Moon, and rovers that will allow the astronauts traverse long distances. Finally, it will provide housing and work quarters on the Surface. The aim is to increase the astronauts’ length of stay from days to perhaps months.
NASA is creating a space station to help these lunar astronauts. The Gateway is a new space station that will orbit the Moon when it is completed, perhaps by the 2030s. Gateway will function as an international commercial research station, similar to the International Space Station. It is expected that it will break down in 2031. Gateway will be used as a way station to send people to Mars and other destinations.
The moon goddess
NASA astronauts likely won’t be the only people exploring the lunar surface. China aims to land its own astronauts at the moon’s south pole by the next decade. Begun in 2004, China’s lunar exploration program, Chang’e — named after the Chinese goddess of the moon — has seen fast progress. It “is very systematic, very well done, and they’ve been successful every step of the way,” says planetary geologist James Head of Brown University in Providence, R.I.
China placed a relay communication satellite orbiting the moon in 2018. China placed a rover on its lunar farside in 2019. This provided the first close-up view of the moon’s hidden side. It is still operational. In November 2020, China sent another rover, which brought samples from the moon’s nearside to Earth the following month.
Next up, although China doesn’t share its specific schedule plans, is Chang’e 6, which will collect and return material from the moon’s farside. In 2026, China intends to launch its Chang’e 7 mission to the south pole to search for water ice. “There’s no question,” Head says, “that [China] will be sending humans to the moon toward the end of the decade.”
China’s human-occupied space station, called Tiangong, is now complete and in low Earth orbit. Mars exploration is also on the agenda. China successfully landed its rover there in 2021. Now, it is preparing for a return mission to collect samples in the same timeframe. NASA-European Space Agency sample return missionMars.
CNSA
Science is an international endeavor, but NASA and China’s space agency are unable to collaborateWolf Amendment (SN: 11/24/18, p. 14). An amendment that was added to a U.S. appropriations bill for 2011 prohibits NASA and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, from collaborating, designing, and planning projects with China, unless the U.S. Congress grants authorization.
However, some lunar scientists hope that there will be cooperation between the two countries, such as sharing samples returned. “There are a lot of different places to go in space, and there’s no sense duplicating everything,” Head says.
International collaboration is the norm, even though human space exploration started as a competition. Over its 22-year history of operation, 20 nations have sent astronauts to the International Space Station. They lived together for months and worked towards common interests.
“The International Space Station is a frigging United Nations in orbit in a tin can,” Head says. Participation by private companies has increased with the ISS. For the Moon to Mars program, both international space agencies, as well private companies, are contributing by designing and manufacturing crucial components.
To the south pole
When humans step on the moon again, they’ll investigate a never-before-explored locale, the moon’s south pole. It’s a region rich with impact craters, uplifted ancient material and Water ice (SN: 11/13/09). This area is being targeted by both the United States of America and China to address new research questions and access resources that would allow for extended stays.
This is the terrain that was cratered. rocky material tore through the solar systemIn the first billion years its history, it slammed into the new planetsSN: 4/25/12). The moon tells the same story, but Earth doesn’t have liquid water or an atmosphere that can smoothen it out.The surface record of meteorite impact impacts is still availableOver billions of years. “Because that record is so perfectly preserved on the lunar surface, it is the single best place in the entire solar system to understand the origin and early evolution of planets,” says planetary scientist David Kring of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
And while those are important mysteries, the south pole’s deep craters also hold something thrilling — water ice. There’s a lot to learn about that ice, says lunar exploration scientist Clive Neal of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. How big is it? Is it possible to extract it? What is the best way to extract it? The Artemis explorers have the answers to these questions. This would allow for longer-term exploration.
That’s the goal this time around: to stay longer for both science exploration and to learn how humans can have a lasting presence on another celestial body. This work “would extend the bounds of human experience in a way that has never happened before,” the Smithsonian’s Muir-Harmony says.
That’s a tall order, considering how NASA’s schedules keep slipping and the cost estimates for each piece of Moon to Mars keep ballooning. An audit in 2021 estimates that the Artemis program’s cost will exceed NASA estimates by $93 billion by 2025. This is $25 billion more than NASA estimates.
NASA’s future Artemis missions will demonstrate what it can do over the next few decades. And China’s upcoming missions will show what that nation’s lunar exploration can achieve. Both will be watched by the world.
