But Mars is still far away. The goal is to get people on the planet by 2033 at the earliest. A step that still requires a lot of new knowledge and preparation. The results of this Artemis I mission are therefore seen as an important intermediate step.

The Orion spacecraft will orbit the Moon for six days. The spaceship will begin its return trip to Earth in early December. If all goes according to plan, Orion will launch into the Pacific Ocean on December 11th.

The second Artemis mission will then begin in May 2024. Then the same spaceflight will be carried out, but with astronauts on board Orion. A year later, the third Artemis mission follows. In it, astronauts should actually set foot on the moon for the first time in more than fifty years.

If it were up to NASA, the moon would then become a permanent base for new missions. The space agency aims to build a permanently manned base on the Moon by 2028. This should provide the knowledge to enable manned space travel to Mars.