NASA already has next Artemis flight in its sights following astronauts’ triumphant moon flyby

HOUSTON– Never-before-seen views of the far side of the Moon. Check. A total solar eclipse gracing the lunar scene. Check. New distance record for humanity. Check.

With NASA’s lunar return a galactic success thanks to Artemis II, the world is wondering: what’s next? And how can you top that?

“For people around the world who look up and dream of what is possible, the long wait is over,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, introducing Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen at Saturday’s festive celebration.

Now that the first lunar travelers in more than half a century are safely back in Houston with their families, NASA has Artemis III in its sights.

“The next mission is just around the corner,” observed Entry Flight Director Rick Henfling after the crew landed in the Pacific on Friday.

In a mission recently added to next year’s schedule, the Artemis III astronauts, who have not yet been named, will practice docking their Orion capsule with one or two lunar landers in orbit around Earth. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are racing to get their company’s lander ready first.

Musk’s spacecraft and Bezos’ Blue Moon are vying for the all-important Artemis IV moon landing in 2028. Two astronauts will aim for the south polar region, the preferred location for Isaacman’s planned $20 billion to $30 billion moon base. Large amounts of ice are almost certainly hidden there in permanently shadowed craters – ice that could provide water and rocket fuel.

The docking mechanism for the nearby Artemis III test is already at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The latest model of Starship is about to launch for a test flight from South Texas, and a scaled-down version of Blue Moon will attempt a moon landing later this year.

NASA promises to announce the Artemis III crew “soon”. Like Apollo 9 in 1969, Artemis III aims to reduce the risks associated with subsequent moon landings.

Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart loved flying the lunar module into low Earth orbit – “a test pilot’s dream.” But there is no doubt, he emphasized, that “the real astronauts,” at least in the public mind, were the ones who walked on the Moon.

Wiseman and his crew showcased their passion and feelings as they flew around the moon and back, choking up over lost loved ones as well as those left behind on Earth.

During their nearly 10-day journey, they tearfully requested that a cool, bright moon crater be named for Wiseman’s late wife, Carroll, who died of cancer in 2020. They also openly shared their love for each other and for planet Earth, an exquisite but delicate oasis in the black void that they believe needs better care.

Artemis II included the first woman, first person of color, and first non-U.S. citizen to fly to the moon.

“Wonderful communicators, almost poets,” Isaacman said from the recovery ship while awaiting their return.

The manly, exclusively professional Apollo lunar crews of the 1960s and 1970s certainly didn’t do group hugs.

For those old enough to remember Apollo, Artemis – Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology – couldn’t come fast enough.

Author Andy Chaikin said he felt like Rip Van Winkle waking up from a nearly 54-year nap. His 1994 biography “A Man on the Moon” spawned the HBO miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon.”

“It’s amazing how far we’ve come and how different this experience is than back then,” Chaikin said from the Johnson Space Center late last week.

The hardest part, according to NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, is getting close to the crews and their families and then sending them to the Moon. He anxiously watched Friday’s reentry alongside the astronauts’ spouses and children.

“You know what is at stake,” Kshatriya then confided. “Exploration is going to take risks, but you have to make sure you find the right line between being paralyzed by it and being able to handle it.”

Calling it “mission complete” only after being reunited with his two daughters, Wiseman issued a rallying cry to the rows of blue-suited astronauts at Saturday’s celebration.

“It’s time to go out there and be ready,” he said, pointing to them, “because it takes courage. It takes determination, and you’re all screwed and we’re going to be here to support you every step of the way in any way we can.”

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