Artemis Program, inspired by the Greek goddess of the Moon, twin sister to Apollo, was named on 14 May 2019 by Jim Bridenstine. Unlike its short-lived predecessor, Apollo, Artemis seeks to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon. The Program's new and improved technologies along with innovative instruments, ensure longer, much more sustainable, and impactful missions.

NASA, with its Artemis Program, does not simply aim to repeat the accomplishments of the Apollo program but wishes to go further. Its intended goal is to go back to the lunar surface and ‘stay there’, conducting experiments, gathering new information as well as looking for resources on the Moon to make it serve as a waypoint to conduct Human exploration into deep space. Artemis also boasts a distinctive feature to set it apart from its twin, putting on the Moon, the first woman as well as the first person of color to show that space isn't just for men and to diversify such a male-dominated profession.

Artemis Program is an international effort to put humans back on the lunar surface and develop an ongoing presence. Composed of numerous notable organizations and companies such as JAXA, ESA, CSA, Elon Musk’s SpaceX as well as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin; All of them being led by America’s very own space agency, NASA.

The projected budget of the Artemis program is expected to be around $93+ Billion by the year 2025, however, over time NASA has faced budget cuts for the program, yet it persists in going at a good pace despite the many delays. Additionally, NASA has awarded 11 different commercial U.S. companies including SpaceX and Blue Origin, around $45.5 million, to develop landers. Furthermore NASA has contracted 9 smaller businesses to construct robotic spacecrafts for NASA in addition to the VIPER rover developed by NASA itself. These landers and rovers will help the astronauts establish a lunar presence as well as help them map out unknown territories and explore them.

The Program has a collection of some major components from previously canceled programs such as the “Constellation program” as well as the “Asteroid Redirect Mission”.Artemis comprises many parts and modules that will help in reaching and establishing a presence on the lunar surface. Among them, NASA’s very own Orion Spacecraft and Space Launch System(SLS), Human Landing System(HLS), and Lunar Gateway are the most prominent features of the mission.

NASA's Orion spacecraft, originating from the canceled Constellation Program, is designed to take 4 humans into deep space. It serves as the primary carrier for 4 astronauts, providing emergency abort capabilities, life support during space travel, and safe re-entry from deep space velocities. Orion launches atop NASA's heavy lift, the Space Launch System.SLS is a new rocket developed by NASA having an almost 100-meter tall rocket consisting of a core stage, upper stage, and twin five-segment solid rocket boosters to launch a payload, be it Orion Spacecraft or a module, into space. These 2 are the backbones of the Artemis Program and allow humans to deep dive into the exploration of deep space.

The Human landing system as well as the Lunar Gateway are the limbs of the Artemis Program, providing humans a haven from the cold vacuum of space as well as aiding humans in exploring further into deep space.

A contract has been awarded to SpaceX of Hawthorne, California by NASA, for its Starship HLS which will not only take the first woman but also the first person of color to the lunar surface from the Gateway.

The Gateway is an Artemis module that will be launched into lunar orbit to provide its residents with a place to live and survive in the coldness of space as well as conduct experiments in a safe environment. The Gateway is intended to be used as a communication hub, science laboratory, and habitation module for astronauts. It is an international collaboration and is comprised of many other modules including, but not limited to, Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), European System Providing Refueling, Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ESPRIT), International Habitation Module (I-HAB), Canadarm3, Crew and Science Airlock. All of these are a combined effort of space agencies such as JAXA, CSA, and NASA as well as commercial companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, NGIS, etc.

The Artemis Program will use these and many more components to build a more sustainable future for mankind upon the lunar surface, helping mankind take a step forward towards the human exploration of deep space and colonizing other planets. The Artemis I mission has already been completed, with the others being planned with a gap of at least 2 years between them.

Artemis is a 3-part program consisting at its center the Space Launch System and the Orion Crew Vehicle. It involves Artemis I, Artemis II, and Artemis III. The Artemis missions will be continued extending to Artemis IV or Artemis V and so on as the main aim of Artemis is to build a sustainable presence on the Moon.

Artemis I, after being delayed 4 times due to preflight and testing issues, finally took flight on 16 November 2022 from Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center. It was an uncrewed flight of the SLS and the second flight of the Orion Spacecraft. Traveling a total distance of around 1.4 million miles, and carrying two special passengers,” Shaun the Sheep” and “Snoopy”, the mission took almost 25.5 days, splashing down into the Pacific Ocean, near California on December 11, 2022.

After reaching orbit, The upper part of the SLS, containing The Orion Spacecraft, separated and performed a trans-lunar injection to be on the flight path for the moon. Orion completed two flybys of the moon, one on November 21st and the second, after entering a distant retrograde orbit, on December 3rd.

The Space Launch System generated almost 9 million pounds of thrust on liftoff, making it 1.3 million pounds more powerful than the Saturn V rocket used in the Apollo missions.

The Purpose of Artemis I was to verify the SLS as well as the Orion Spacecraft for crewed missions starting from Artemis II. Artemis 1 successfully proved that SLS and Orion Spacecraft are perfectly capable of sending humans to the moon and back as well as communicating and recovering them in the case of any emergency.

Artemis II will be the first crewed mission of the Artemis Program. It will involve a lunar flyby with 4 astronauts aboard the Orion Spacecraft. The astronauts taking part in it were announced on 3 April 2023 and involved Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman, and Victor Glover. These 4 astronauts will be the first to go back to the lunar orbit in almost 5 decades since the Apollo mission. The mission will be approximately 8-10 days, collecting valuable data on the Orion Spacecraft’s life support systems as well as helping us understand any problems that may arise for the moon landing in the Artemis III mission.

Artemis III will be the first crewed lunar landing since the Apollo mission in 1972, allowing the first woman and the first person of color to walk upon the lunar surface. Depending upon the support mission of sending an HLS to the lunar orbit, before the sending of an SLS/Orion, the mission would take place no earlier than late 2026.

The goal of Artemis III is to land 2 astronauts on the South Pole of the Moon near the Shackleton crater with the help of HLS, while the other 2 will remain on board the Orion. The duration of the astronauts aboard the lunar surface would last around a week, conducting 4 spacewalks including scientific observations as well as sampling water ice, and coming back to Orion. Orion will then come splashing down in a blaze of fire into the Pacific Ocean to be collected by NASA along with the 4 crew members it will be carrying inside it.

To explore the lunar surface and look for resources, the astronauts involved in Artemis III will wear the new and improved Artemis Generation Spacesuits developed by Axiom Space and Prada. The ones worn for space walks will be tested while the one being worn during the spaceflight will be tested in the Artemis II.

Artemis IV or Artemis V will just be about sending parts of the Lunar Gateway to the lunar orbit to be assembled and prolonging the presence of humans on the Moon. Lunar Gateway consists of many parts as stated before, and many other parts are planned but haven’t started to be developed by the space agencies around the world. Yet Artemis will most likely continue for a much longer time than Apollo, perhaps even reaching numbers greater than the Apollo missions.

While it may seem that Artemis is very similar to Apollo, it is the furthest thing from it. While Apollo was just about going to the Moon first and beating Russia and other countries in the space race, Artemis is much more than that. According to 3-time NASA astronaut Steven Swanson, the real objective of the Artemis program is not to just establish a prolonged presence on the Moon but also to use this as a stepping stone for Mars. All the detective work has been done by the countless rovers sent upon the Martial surface, now the only thing left is for humans to go there. Steven Swanson also explained that we can use the Moon as a testbed. Mars is a really difficult mission as it is not only a 7-8 month journey but you also need to wait another 15 months for the planets to align correctly to come back to our home planet. Mars is no easy mission and it will take a lot of testing and meticulous planning for the humans to go on Mars. The Moon can also be used as a test bed for other things to see if we can use the resources on the Moon to make our fuel and potentially lessen the weight of the payload we send to Mars. Perhaps making a pitstop on the Moon to help in the exploration of deep space. Embarking on such a journey will be akin to saying, to quote Neil Armstrong, “One small step for man and a giant leap for mankind”.