What Artemis means as NASA returns to deep space
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Artemis II is set to launch Wednesday, no earlier than 5:45pm Central Time. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
It's launch day.
Why it matters: Artemis II returns to NASA's original deep-space ambitions as the agency moves toward a sustained presence on and around the Moon.
What they're saying: "I think this signals a picking up where we last left off," said NASA's chief historian Brian Odom. "There's still that 'shoulders of giants' mentality."
- NASA left lunar missions with Apollo 17 in 1972, he noted, but everything that's happened since then, with the shuttle program, the International Space Station and more, has built on that experience and led to today.
- "Deep space exploration has been the plan from the very beginning," said Odom, who's based at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. "We're to that point now where we're applying all those great lessons."
Zoom in: Artemis II, if it launches on schedule Wednesday, will travel nearly 250,000 miles from Earth, the farthest from the planet a human has ever traveled.
- The 10-day lunar fly-by will travel 4,600 miles past the Moon, serving as a test flight before NASA attempts a lunar landing in 2028.
Catch up quick: The mission comes as NASA pushes toward a higher cadence of lunar missions and a sustained human presence on the Moon.
Context: The last time America went to the Moon was more than half a century ago, in the Space Race days when the impetus was proving that humans could get there and back, Odom explained.
- Now it's about going to the Moon and staying, he said, and in cooperation with international partners, noting the Artemis Accords.
Yes, but: "Becoming a spacefaring civilization, to move on to Mars eventually, was always a main driver," Odom said.
- That impetus was there at the creation of NASA, he said, and this mission, with the increased cadence and lunar base focus, gets that back on track.
The bottom line: "NASA, and the country, and the world, are undertaking a very monumental step here in that process of becoming a spacefaring society," Odom said.