Story Behind Artemis I First Launch & Why Artemis I Send To Moon | Complete Documentary

The Artemis program is a robotic and human Moon exploration program led by the United States space agency, NASA, and involving three other partner agencies: European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Canadian Space Agency (CSA). If successful, the Artemis program will re-establish a human presence on the Moon for the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The major components of the program are the Space Launch System (SLS), Orion spacecraft, Lunar Gateway space station, and the commercial Human Landing Systems, including Starship HLS. The long-term vision of the program is to establish a permanent base camp on the Moon and facilitate human missions to Mars.

The Artemis program is a collaboration of space agencies and companies around the world, bound together via the Artemis Accords and supporting contracts. As of July 2022, twenty-one countries have signed the accords, including traditional U.S. space partners (such as the European Space Agency as well as agencies from Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom) and emerging space powers such as Brazil, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.

The Artemis program was formally established in 2017 during the Trump administration; however, many of its components such as the Orion spacecraft were developed during the previous Constellation program (2005–2010) and after its cancellation. Orion's first launch, and the first use of the Space Launch System, was originally set in 2016 but was scheduled to launch in 2022 as the Artemis 1 mission, with robots and mannequins aboard. According to plan, the crewed Artemis 2 launch will take place in 2024, the Artemis 3 crewed lunar landing in 2025, the Artemis 4 docking with the Lunar Gateway in 2027, and future yearly landings on the Moon thereafter. However, some observers note that the program's cost and timeline are likely to be overrun and delayed, due to NASA's improper management of contractors.