On July 20, 1969, during the Apollo 11 missions’ astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made history by landing their Lunar Module and becoming the first humans to ever reach the lunar surface. Roughly 50 years later NASA’s Artemis missions are once again paving the way for humanity and their ongoing expedition of exploring and learning more about the last frontier in space as they aim to return humans to the moon and establish a long-term lunar presence.
Being comprised of four crew members, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, they have cemented themselves in history books. They have officially set a new record for the farthest humans have ever traveled from Earth, reaching a distance of 252,756 miles. Orbiting the far side of the moon and completing their mission on April 10, 2026, they safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California.
Despite us not yet returning to the Moon, the Artemis II mission will be looked back at as a resounding success as the crew was able to complete all of their recorded objectives. They took breath taking shots of both Earth and the Moon, and most importantly validated the Orion capsule and SLS rocket designs for human deep-space travel paving the way for future lunar missions. The bigger picture with respects to the Artemis program is NASA’s on-going belief that a successful long-term presence on the Moon could set the stage for potential space expeditions off to Mars igniting a new wave of excitement pertaining towards space travel for generations to come. This long-term presence on the Moon pays extra attention to the lunar south pole, as it has been deemed a prime location to set up a lunar base.
Looking forward now to the future, in both 2027 and 2028 the Artemis III and Artemis IV missions are set to take place including both the first lunar landing in the 21st century, and the initial assembly phase of the Gateway Lunar Space Station. From a university perspective this is particularly exciting as the University of North Dakota is one of the collegian leaders in Space Studies through the programs offered by the Department of Space Studies. They specialize in an interdisciplinary approach that focuses on space physical science, space life science, space engineering, human space flight, space law and policy, and space history.
Only time will tell whether the broader objectives of the Artemis Missions are ultimately successful. However, following the Artemis II launch it is evident that the program is off to a promising start, and the next era of space travel has officially begun.
Daniel Silva is a Dakota Student General Reporter. He can be reached at daniel.a.[email protected].