The Launch of Artemis 1: A New Era of Space Exploration

By Mila Nguyen, Year 12

On Wednesday the 16th of November, Artemis 1, a new rocket from NASA, was successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center into Earth’s orbit. The planned course for this spacecraft is to pass by the moon and return back to Earth over the span of 26 days. Artemis 1 could potentially pave the way for astronauts to return to the moon for the first time in 50 years. This rocket is a part of Nasa’s larger Artemis Program which aims to establish a long-term human presence on the moon, a potentially monumental development in space exploration.

The rocket’s key feature is an uncrewed astronaut capsule, named Orion. The objective of Artemis 1 is to test whether this capsule will be able to successfully travel in space and safely transport human astronauts.

The ongoing Artemis program intends to prepare for further exploration on the moon. NASA’s longer term objectives start with exploring the moon’s surface by sending both robotic and human explorers to new locations, starting with the lunar south pole. These new developments intend to lead to the eventual establishment of a lunar space station, and the later development of a habitable moon base. There are 3 stages to the Artemis programme. The first is Artemis 1, this most recent test launch. Artemis 2, an increasingly ambitious mission, intends to send a crewed rocket into space, sending humans further than they ever have been before. Finally, Artemis 3 plans on landing the first female astronaut and the first astronaut of color on the moon, where they will then spend a week on its surface, carrying out a series of scientific experiments.

After the space race, much of the excitement of lunar exploration faded away. In 1970 all future Apollo missions had been canceled and the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 was the last to land an astronaut on the moon. Scientists hope that the Artemis will renew this excitement for space exploration, and that the knowledge learnt from the programme will help achieve NASA’s horizon goal: reaching Mars.