It was another giant leap for mankind as NASA’s Artemis II became the first crewed mission to the moon in 54 years. The four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—blasted off aboard the Orion spacecraft on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, completed a lunar flyby and safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego on the evening of April 10. The spacecraft flew 252,756 miles from Earth, breaking Apollo 13’s 1970 record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled into space.
The mission also marks the first time that humans have been able to see the entire far side of the moon with their own eyes. (Fortunately for us, the crew took plenty of photos.) It’s a stepping stone to an even greater lunar goal.
“At NASA, we dare to reach higher, explore farther and achieve the impossible,” said Lori Glaze, PhD, NASA’s acting associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “[The astronauts] are charting new frontiers for all humanity. Their dedication is about more than breaking records—it’s fueling our hope for a bold future. Their mission is carrying our promise to return to the moon’s surface, this time to stay as we establish a moon base.”
It’s all part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, which will send astronauts on “increasingly difficult missions to explore more of the moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits and to build on our foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars,” according to the agency.
Over the moon with excitement? Us too. So we searched the web for the best news articles and videos for additional context on the Artemis II mission, its place in history and what it means for the future of space travel. Read on for the fascinating details.
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The U.S. first went to the moon as part of the “space race” against the USSR
After the former Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the world’s first artificial satellite, in 1957, the U.S. knew it had to catch up. This meant beating the Soviets to the surface of the moon, a goal so urgent it became known as the “space race.” That was the aim of the Apollo program, which launched after NASA’s Mercury and Gemini missions and ran from 1962 to 1972.
And it was successful. Between 1969 and 1972, there were a total of 11 crewed Apollo missions, including six that landed on the moon. The 1972 Apollo 17 mission was the last crewed mission to the moon until Artemis II.
Discovered on the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
But we stopped going to the moon when the space race ended
During the Cold War, space travel was about more than sending astronauts into orbit and to the moon. It was a display of America’s might and scientific advancements, and it was used to send a message to the Soviet Union. “They realized that in human history, whenever two cultures have come up against each other, it’s the one that has the better technology that usually ends up on the top of the heap,” former NASA chief historian Roger Launius told Space.com.
Since that conflict and rivalry ended, space exploration hasn’t felt as urgent. And that’s reflected in federal funding for the space program: During the height of the space race, NASA’s funding was about 4.4% of the entire federal budget. Today, it’s less than 0.4%.
Discovered on Space.com
Yet we still benefit from the U.S. space program’s innovations
While lunar landings get all the press, there are a number of other advancements that have come courtesy of the space program—including ones we use in everyday life. For starters, without space-delivered technologies, we wouldn’t be able to communicate via cellphones or satellite transmissions.
The space program has also led to the invention of GPS, heart rate monitoring technology, banking technology, scratch-resistant lenses, memory foam mattresses, rechargeable batteries, wireless headphones and the Jaws of Life rescue tool. “The general public doesn’t understand how incredibly important space is to them on a daily basis,” space policy expert Greg Autry told USA Today. “Our modern civilization would not continue to operate without our regular investment in space.”
Discovered on USA Today
Now, there’s a new space race—this time, between the U.S. and China
Both China and the U.S. have set their sights on the moon—more specifically, on building a base near the south pole to obtain resources like hydrogen, frozen water and helium. A home base would also make it easier to launch missions farther into space.
The idea is that the first country that establishes its lunar base sets the rules for moon colonization moving forward. “This time, the goal is not flags and footprints,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said. “This time, the goal is to stay.” While Artemis II puts the U.S. ahead at this point, NASA acknowledges that China may make it to the moon first.
Discovered on The New York Times
Going to the moon puts us one step closer to Mars
NASA would like to send people to Mars by the 2030s, but reaching that goal involves first going back to the moon. “Going to the moon and staying there for a sustained period is much safer, much cheaper and much easier to be a test bed for learning how to live and work on another planet,” Libby Jackson, head of space at the Science Museum in London, told the BBC.
Once NASA has established a base on the moon, scientists can test ways of providing air and water for its visitors. This will involve figuring out how to generate power and shield people from extreme temperatures and space radiation. “These are all technologies that if you try them for the first time on Mars and they go wrong, it’s potentially catastrophic,” Jackson said. “It’s much safer and much easier to try them out on the moon.”
Discovered on BBC
A goal of the Artemis II mission is to test the spacecraft …
NASA wanted to find out how its Orion deep-space crew capsule, named Integrity, would fare in outer space. “This is a test mission,” Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman said before the launch. “When we get off the planet, we might come right back home. We might spend three or four days around Earth. We might go to the moon. That’s where we want to go, but it is a test mission, and we are ready for every scenario as we ride this amazing Space Launch System in the Orion spacecraft, 250,000 miles away. It’s going to be amazing!”
Discovered on CBS News
… and the other technology required for space travel
When Artemis II made it to the moon’s south pole, the mission was truly in new territory: It’s nowhere near where the Apollo missions landed in the 1960s and 1970s. That presents different challenges, like the fact that it’s one of the coldest places in the solar system.
“The practice that we’re getting with Artemis II is really critical for NASA to test not only the life support systems and the technologies needed to get the astronauts to the moon and back safely but also the science—communication between the scientists on the ground in Houston and the crew on board,” Paul Hayne, a planetary scientist and professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, told NPR.
Discovered on NPR
The crew members will also be guinea pigs
In addition to their official duties, the members of the Artemis II crew also took part in several scientific studies examining the impact of space travel on human health. Each person wore a wrist monitor to track their activity levels, interactions, sleep patterns and overall well-being. They also provided saliva samples that may help researchers better understand how immune systems work in space. For another study, tissue samples from each astronaut, contained in USB-sized chips that are also aboard Orion, will shed light on how increased radiation and microgravity may affect human organs.
Discovered on Smithsonian Magazine
Problems plagued “the most important piece of equipment on board”
Roughly an hour after launch, astronaut Koch reported an issue with the Universal Waste Management System (the fancy name for the toilet on board): A part came loose and got stuck in the fan generator. Fortunately, after a few hours of troubleshooting, she was able to fix it.
A few days later, the lines to vent the urine out of the toilet were freezing and becoming clogged. To fix it, the astronauts rotated the Orion capsule so that sunlight could hit the vents and melt the frozen wastewater. “It’s kind of a complex engineering issue when you expose a liquid to a vacuum. It’s a pretty chaotic environment,” Rick Henfling, Artemis II’s entry flight director, said during a media briefing.
Discovered on CBC
Orion got a free ride home
Once Artemis II reached the farthest point in its trip—approximately 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the moon—it began its return trip to Earth. But instead of requiring propulsion, Orion’s fuel-efficient journey took advantage of the Earth-moon gravity field, which naturally pulled the spacecraft back to Earth.
Discovered on NASA
Artemis II was just the beginning
The history-making Artemis II mission reignited America’s passion for space travel, but slingshotting around the moon wasn’t NASA’s ultimate goal. This was just a stepping stone in a larger lunar vision. “You hear sometimes around here, ‘This is a once in a lifetime …’—no, it’s not,” NASA administrator Isaacman said after the spacecraft successfully landed in the Pacific. “This is just the beginning. We are going to get back into doing this with frequency, sending missions to the moon until we land on it in 2028 and start building our base.”
Yup, NASA’s endgame with the Artemis program is a station on the moon. After a mission in low-Earth orbit with Artemis III, the space agency plans to launch the Artemis IV mission in 2028, sending two astronauts to the moon’s south pole for a week to do science experiments. From there, missions will build toward a permanent lunar base.
And from there? Not even the sky’s the limit.
Discovered on the Los Angeles Times and NASA
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