All articles tagged with #artemis program
NASA unveiled three uncrewed Moon missions (Moon Base 1–3) planned for launch this year to scout South Pole sites, test technologies, and collect data as steps toward a phased plan to establish a sustained lunar presence by around 2032, with Blue Origin carrying two payloads on the first flight and Artemis program milestones guiding the effort.
NASA’s Landsat 9 regularly points its sensors at the Moon during the full Moon to detect and correct drift, using the Moon’s stability as a reference to keep decades of Earth observations consistent, a process that runs alongside Artemis’ return to lunar exploration.
SpaceX is gearing up for a high-stakes suborbital test of Starship V3 from Starbase Texas, featuring the deployment of 22 mock Starlink satellites and a midflight engine relight to demonstrate future lunar capabilities, in a roughly 65-minute flight that ends with the upper stage splashing down in the Indian Ocean; the booster will land offshore in the Gulf of Mexico rather than returning to the launch site. The test advances Starship's upgrade path amid NASA's Artemis program and SpaceX's push toward full reusability, in-space propellant transfer, and a Moon- and Mars-capable vehicle, all alongside an upcoming IPO.
NASA is using a full-scale cabin mock-up of Blue Origin's Mark 2 lunar lander at Johnson Space Center to run human-in-the-loop tests—covering mission scenarios, spacesuit checkouts, and simulated moonwalks—as Artemis targets a 2028 moon landing, with an uncrewed Endurance MK1 in testing and Artemis III planned to dock with a lander in 2027.
An explosion was recorded at SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas during a deluge test ahead of a crucial Starship flight test. A NASASpaceflight livestream captured a large plume and debris; SpaceX said engineers are investigating the incident and it is unclear whether launch preparations will be affected. No new date has been set for the next Starship test, though Elon Musk previously suggested it could be 4–6 weeks away. The Starship/Super Heavy stack, when operational, would stand about 124 meters tall and is a key part of NASA’s Artemis moon program.
Blue Origin's uncrewed Moon lander MK1, Endurance, has passed a thermal vacuum chamber test at NASA's Johnson Space Center, marking a major step toward NASA's Artemis program with plans to ferry science experiments to the lunar south pole as early as late 2026.
Blue Origin completed environmental testing of its uncrewed lunar lander MK1, Endurance, inside NASA's Thermal Vacuum Chamber A to simulate space conditions. The CLPS mission will carry two NASA payloads—the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies and the Laser Retroreflective Array—while validating precision landing, cryogenic propulsion, and autonomous control in support of Artemis and future MK2 crewed missions.
A new analysis warns that the Earth–Moon space between them, called cislunar space, could become a strategic chokepoint as NASA’s Artemis program and private lunar ventures boost traffic. Control over key transit points and corridors could influence navigation, communications, and the flow of lunar resources, risking disruptions or enabling expansive future space infrastructure and Earth-based supply chains, making these routes a critical geopolitical and economic concern.
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket failed to place an AST SpaceMobile satellite into a stable orbit, turning the payload into space junk and triggering an FAA investigation that could delay NASA's Artemis Moon program, potentially pushing the first Moon landing from 2024 to 2028 and complicating Artemis 3's planned docking tests as NASA pursues multiple concurrent launches with SLS/Orion and SpaceX's Starship.
Artemis 2’s crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen—completed a 10‑day loop around the Moon, returning to Earth with NASA officials touting the mission’s success as a stepping stone toward a crewed lunar landing. Wiseman said landing on the Moon is absolutely doable and could come soon, with Artemis 3 planned for mid‑2027 and Artemis 4 targeting a late‑2028 south‑pole site, as the program tests life‑support systems and rendezvous/docking capabilities for future landers from SpaceX or Blue Origin.
NASA is accelerating Artemis 3 while Artemis 2 returns home, adopting overlapping mission phases and small, incremental changes rather than major redesigns to shorten timelines. By leveraging real‑time data, multiple Human Landing System providers, and an increased launch cadence, the agency aims for a mid‑2027 Artemis 3 lunar landing to dock Orion with Starship and/or Blue Moon HLS and test the AxEMU spacesuit, all as part of a broader move toward a sustainable, reusable lunar presence.
NASA unveils a seven-year, $20 billion overhaul to build a surface lunar base with robotic prep, repurpose the Lunar Gateway for surface infrastructure (pausing its orbital role), and advance a nuclear-powered Mars mission via Space Reactor 1 Freedom by 2028, including a Mars helicopter test; the move reshapes Artemis and heightens competition with China.
NASA has paused the planned lunar Gateway space station to focus on surface infrastructure for a sustained Moon presence under Artemis, repurposing Gateway hardware for landers, rovers and habitats. The move aims to accelerate crewed lunar missions with a higher launch cadence and a three‑phase plan to a long‑term Moon base (~$20B), with Artemis II slated for early April, Artemis III targeting 2027 and Artemis IV around 2028, and no Gateway rendezvous for the near-term, though NASA says Gateway could be revisited in the future.
NASA astronaut and Harvard-trained physician Jonny Kim will headline Harvard Alumni Day on June 5. Kim spent 245 days aboard the International Space Station during Expedition 72/73, contributing to science and NASA’s Artemis program, after a path from Navy SEAL and emergency medicine to space. His story of service and achievement will inspire alumni joining in person on campus or online.
NASA’s Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a roughly 10-day crewed flyaround of the Moon to test systems ahead of future lunar landings and a long-term lunar presence. The flight aims to advance science—studying lunar geology and the southern polar region’s water ice—while also evaluating human physiology in deep-space conditions and laying groundwork for a lunar base and eventual missions to Mars as part of the broader Artemis program.