NASA is preparing to launch a mission to the Moon – and it’s making history for more than one reason.
The space agency’s launch of Artemis II marks the United States’ first return to the Moon in more than 50 years. It will also carry the first black astronaut and first female astronaut to the Moon, although the mission will be a flyby without landing on the surface.
The launch, originally planned for early February and now delayed, will carry four astronauts around the Moon and back, including Victor Glover and Christina Koch, respectively the first black astronauts and first women to make the flight.
The mission follows the successful launch of Artemis I in 2022, which was uncrewed, and marks NASA’s next step toward eventually sending astronauts to Mars.
“The benefits of the Artemis program are technological, but they are also cultural,” Glover, a decorated U.S. Navy captain who has traveled to the International Space Station, said in a NASA video from 2024. “What really means something to me is the inspiration that will come from this, inspiring future generations to reach the moon, literally to reach the moon.”
Koch began her career at NASA, first as an engineer, then conducting scientific research before becoming an astronaut in 2013, also traveling to the International Space Station.
“The thing that excites me the most is that we are going to carry with us your enthusiasm, your aspirations, your dreams on this mission,” Koch said at the 2023 press conference when announcing the mission’s astronauts.
Danielle Wood, a professor in the department of astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said this mission builds on decades of NASA work, including lessons learned from its previously unsuccessful efforts.
“NASA has thought through this whole process, which spans two decades, about what we’re going to do is prepare the government to focus on these more challenging next-generation missions and be able to do things that haven’t been demonstrated yet,” Wood told CNBC.
Wood said she’s also grateful that NASA is committed to sending more diverse astronauts to space who “represent society in a broader way.” Although the space agency initially focused on military training for astronauts, it said opening up those requirements has led to some exciting developments.
“There are still many firsts, many glass ceilings, that need to be broken by Black women and Black men and women in general – it’s still real,” Wood added.
The mission will include much more than just an exploratory trip to the Moon, she said. NASA will conduct scientific research on astronaut health, rocketry and Moon science. The mission also works collaboratively with other countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Germany, under “goodwill” agreements to pool resources for Moon research, Wood said.
“This is just one step toward this new, larger form of operation,” she said.
Space historian Amy Shira Teitel, who has studied space for more than two decades, said Artemis II marks the beginning of NASA’s next research chapter.
“This marks a new era of moving out of low Earth orbit, which we haven’t done since 1972,” she told CNBC. “It’s still an important step because at the end of the day we’re still going to get information that can be applied to whatever the next step is.”
Teitel nevertheless doubts that this launch is the first step towards a lasting presence on the Moon. Between budget restrictions, multiple launch delays and complicated political factors, Teitel said the rocket launching this mission is “widely considered a huge waste.”
This comes even as the space sector – and the journey back to the Moon – has become increasingly crowded.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced earlier this month that it was shifting its efforts from explorations of Mars to explorations of the Moon. Texas-based rocket and spacecraft manufacturer Luciole Aerospatiale and Houston-based space startup Intuitive machines both sent a spacecraft to the moon.
And NASA plans to retire the International Space Station in favor of smaller space stations focusing on the Moon and Mars, with costs adding up. The U.S. Senate has also proposed legislation to support NASA’s progress and create thousands of aerospace jobs, including in Alabama, where the Marshall Space Flight Center is located.
Although the launch of Artemis II will mark a milestone in NASA’s history, Teitel said she chooses to remain cautiously optimistic about the future of space exploration, despite the obstacles.
“There are so many challenges with this program right now that come from politics, not from astronauts or engineers, but just from the fact that space is so complicated, so steeped in politics and so expensive that it’s hard to be so excited about this next step when everything else seems so tenuous,” Teitel said.