The Artemis Missions
What do you already know about the Artemis Missions?
The Artemis missions are new and exciting space missions. The NASA program is named after the Greek goddess Artemis, who was the twin sister of Apollo. The aim is to get astronauts back on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo missions in the 1960’s and 1970’s.Â
Not only are these missions aiming to land on the Moon again, NASA also wants to build a lunar base on the Moon! Then the aim is to go even further and fly astronauts to Mars!
Apollo Missions - Saturn V launching
Artemis Missions - SLS rocket launching
SLS Rocket and Orion Spacecraft
To get these missions up into space NASA is using an SLS rocket. SLS stands for Space Launch System. The enormous rocket is 98 meres tall. It is used to launch the Orion capsule out of Earth’s atmosphere.
Its Core Stage will contain 2 million litres of oxygen and 750 million litres of hydrogen, frozen so the gases become liquid. When mixed together and then ignited a chemical reaction takes place and steam is forced out of the engine’s nozzles at 10,000 miles per hour!
There are also two Solid Rocket Boosters. These provide 75% of the power needed to get the rocket off the ground. Just one of these Solid Rocket Boosters has the same amount of power as 14 jumbo jets!
The rocket will launch off into space at about 17,000 miles per hour, 22 times the speed of sound!
The Solid Rocket Boosters drop away after about two minutes. The Core Stage then drops away after about eight minutes, once the spacecraft has made it out of Earth’s atmosphere.
On top of the SLS rocket is the Orion capsule and the service module. The Orion capsule is where the astronauts spend the journey. It is where they control the spacecraft, eat and sleep. It is a bit bigger than the Apollo capsules and more advanced but in some ways looks similar. It is about the size and shape of a family sized tent! The service module provides the spacecraft’s engine, power, water and oxygen to the capsule. It also has four solar panel arrays to power the spacecraft.
Once the mission is complete the only part to complete the whole journey is the Orion capsule. The service capsule will drop away before re entry to Earth’s atmosphere. The Orion capsule will then continue at around 25,000 miles an hour back through the Earth’s atmosphere, before slowing right down with the use of parachutes, and then crashing into the ocean.
SLS rocket on the launchpad
Orion capsule and service module
Artemis I
On the 16th November 2022 Artemis I launched. Artemis I was an unmanned mission that was used to test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. The mission launched up into space and around the Moon and back again. It took 25 days, 10 hours and 53 minutes to travel a 1.4 million mile journey!
Once this successful mission was completed there was a lot of work to do. The whole purpose of Artemis I was to test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft to see if they would support astronauts safely. One of the main changes made was adjusting the Orion’s heatshield, as it didn’t protect the spacecraft as expected as well as making sure oxygen and temperature controls for the spacecraft worked perfectly.
Artemis I launching
Artemis I going around the Moon
Artemis II
Artemis II launched on the 1st April 2026. It is an exciting mission as it is the first time is over 50 years astronauts have travelled so far into space. Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen will travel 685,000 miles around Earth, to the Moon and back again.
At the furthest point they will be 250,000 miles from Earth, the furthest humans have ever been, going further away than Apollo 13’s record when it reached 248,655 miles from Earth.
You can find out more about this 10 day mission to the Moon on our Artemis II page.
Reid Wiseman - commander (front centre), Christina Koch - mission specialist (left), Victor Glover - pilot (back centre) and Jeremy Hansen - mission specialist (right)
Artemis II rocket
Artemis III, IV and V
Future planned missions include…
Artemis III
Due to launch in mid 2027 Artemis III won’t fly to the Moon but instead stay in Earth’s orbit to test commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin. The crew on the mission will test the Orion spacecraft docking with the landers up in space and carrying out other tests to ensure they will work correctly on the next mission to the Moon.
Artemis IV
Artemis IV will aim to land astronauts on the Moon once again. This mission is due to launch at the beginning of 2028. The astronauts on this mission will fly to the Moon and then use one of the commercial landers tested by Artemis III to land on the Moon. The aim will be to land on he Moon’s south pole and for the astronauts to spend about a week exploring this area not explored by the Apollo missions. Scientists believe there is potentially frozen water here and hope to build a lunar base in the area in the future.
Artemis V
Artemis V will go back to the Moon again in late 2028. On this mission NASA is aiming to begin building its Moon base. It is then predicted there will be another mission once a year after this to continue this. Then will they get astronauts to Mars?!
What we've learnt...
The Artemis Program is a series of missions to get astronauts back to the Moon and potentially even further!
Powerful SLS rockets are being used to launch an Orion spacecraft up into space on each mission.
Artemis I launched on the 16th November 2022. It was an unmanned mission that flew around the Moon.
Artemis II launched on the 1st April 2026. Four astronauts will fly around the Moon, the closest we’ve been in over 50 years!
Future missions aim to land back on the Moon again, to build a lunar base and even reach Mars!
Test your knowledge...
The Artemis Missions Quiz
If you click the correct answer the box will turn green. If it’s the wrong answer it will turn red and then show you what the correct answer was. Remember to read or listen to the questions carefully! If you are listening to the questions using Text To Speech make sure you pause it after it has read the questions and answers so you have a chance to think!
#1. When do NASA hope to land astronauts of the Moon again?
#2. Do NASA want to build a permanent base on the Moon?
#3. How long has it been since we landed on the Moon?
#4. When did Artemis II launch?
#5. What part of the spacecraft do the astronauts travel in?
Results
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Question Time...
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