During a press briefing about the Artemis 2 mission on the 9th of August 2023, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said;

"We're in a Space Race with China"

This is in reference to China recently announcing its plans to land a crew on the Lunar surface by 2029, around the same time as the planned Artemis 4 mission. NASA associate administrator of Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Jim Free said during the press briefing that Artemis 3 is still aiming for December 2025 but could potentially not land on the Moon if no lander is ready for the mission. Currently, SpaceX is contracted to provide the lander for Artemis 3 using a variant of its Starship but it is yet to reach space. Administrator Bill Nelson also stated;

"We're going back to the Moon to learn to live in deep space environments for long periods of time so that we can go to Mars and return safely" and "We go back to the Moon with commercial and international partners to stay"

Artemis 2 is still targeting November 2024 for launch with hopes of stacking the Space Launch System rocket in February 2024. The European Space Agency has already handed over the Artemis 2 service module to NASA ahead of spacecraft integration.

Pam Melroy, the NASA Deputy Administrator, stated that the agency already has hardware being worked on up to Artemis 6 which will fly sometime in the 2030s.

The Artemis 2 crew with their Orion Capsule, (from left to right) Canadian Space Agency Artemis II Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, NASA Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, NASA Artemis II Pilot Victor Glover, NASA Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Hammock Koch.

What is Artemis?

Artemis is NASA's second crewed Lunar exploration program with plans to return people to the Moon as soon as 2025. NASA states Artemis as;

"With Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. We will collaborate with our commercial and international partners to establish the first long-term human-robotic presence on and around the Moon. Then, we will use what we learn on and at the Moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars."

NASA plans to launch its Artemis missions on the Space Launch System rocket which uses parts from the Space Shuttle program and hardware developed from the Constellation program.

The Artemis program has so far launched one mission, uncrewed, around the Moon in late 2022 to test the Orion Spacecraft in a near rectilinear halo orbit, also referred to as NRHO, before returning to Earth.