After more than half a century, humans have successfully made it back to the moon. This time it is not just to land, but to explore further than anyone has before.
On April 1st, 2026, NASA launched the Artemis II crew aboard the Orion spacecraft. Over the past few days, this spacecraft has been traveling towards the moon, passing behind it, and breaking the record to being the furthest traveling spacecraft.
The hopes and goals of the Artemis II crew is to act as a test run for the Artemis III crew, who is aiming to be the next group of people to actually land on the moon. By going up into space and acting as a test run, they will be able to learn how to handle the depths of outer space and overall gain experience that Artemis III will greatly benefit from.
This is not only a huge accomplishment for NASA and the Artemis II crew, but it is a major milestone for our world as a whole. We are getting closer and closer to sending humans to the moon again, and eventually creating habitats and infrastructure up there.
This is also a humongous stepping stone for exploring Mars and other planets in more depth. With spacecraft, technology, and knowledge advancing, who knows what could be next for astronauts. It is thrilling to think about what the future holds and is quite amazing to think about how space, “the unknown”, is slowly becoming more known.