Artemis is a program of NASA, the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Artemis program aims to land the first woman and the next man on the lunar surface by 2024, and establish a sustainable presence on the Moon by the end of the decade. The Artemis program plans to build a Gateway, a lunar orbiting platform that will serve as a staging point for human landings on the lunar surface, as well as robotic missions and scientific investigations.
Examples of Artemis missions include:
- Artemis 1, the first in a series of test flights of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. It was an uncrewed mission that launched in November 2021.
- Artemis 2, the first crewed mission of the Artemis program, which will send astronauts aboard Orion spacecraft around the Moon and back to Earth, it is expected to be launched in 2023.
- Artemis 3, the first mission to land humans on the lunar surface since 1972, is planned to be launched in 2024. It will use the Orion spacecraft and the Gateway as well as a new lunar lander.
- Artemis 4 and beyond, will continue to build on the progress made by Artemis 3 and will establish a sustainable presence on the Moon, with missions to explore different regions of the lunar surface and to retrieve lunar resources.
The Artemis program is also part of the larger goal of NASA to establish a sustainable presence on the lunar surface, which includes developing new technologies and capabilities, and fostering international and commercial partnerships.