Facts about the Artemis Program
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Artemis IV will establish a sustained lunar outpost called the Lunar Gateway, a planned space station in orbit around the Moon to support multiple crewed surface missions.
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In 2024, NASA selected three companies—Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX—to develop lunar lander concepts for the Artemis program's crewed Moon missions.
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Ground-based testing for Artemis includes the Orion Ground Test Article, a full-scale mockup used to validate crew procedures and emergency egress protocols before actual flights.
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Artemis I's uncrewed test flight in November 2022 lasted 25.5 days and traveled 1.3 million miles to validate the Orion spacecraft before crewed missions.
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Artemis missions will cost approximately 93 billion dollars through 2025, making it one of NASA's most expensive programs in the agency's history.
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Twenty-four Orion heat shields will be tested during Artemis I's uncrewed 2022 mission to validate thermal protection for future crewed lunar flights.
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Orion, the spacecraft designed for Artemis missions, can sustain a crew of four for up to 21 days in deep space with life support systems rated for extended lunar operations.
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Artemis III's lunar lander will use a SpaceX Starship variant to deliver two astronauts to the Moon's south polar region by 2026, targeting water ice deposits.
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NASA's Artemis II mission will carry four astronauts around the Moon in 2025, marking humanity's first crewed lunar journey since Apollo 17 in 1972.