Fifty-seven years ago on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong took humanity’s first step on the Moon. It was the penultimate moment for the Apollo Program and proof that the choices made by NASA engineers and planners worked.
The Apollo technology was an all-in-one mission and solution. It involved a single launch vehicle, the Saturn V megarocket. Its payload included the command module and lunar lander. Its simplicity was its strength. It also meant there was a single point of failure should there be a failure to achieve a successful launch to orbit.
NASA perfected rendezvous and docking routines through the Gemini missions. The missions to the Moon required the lander, the lunar excursion module (LEM), to separate from the command module and descend to the surface, and then return.
The design for Apollo missions turned out to be the saving grace for Apollo XIII, when the LEM served as a lifeboat to rescue the astronauts when an accident disabled the command module on the way to the Moon.
All Apollo missions, except Apollo XIII, repeated Armstrong’s lunar landing success. Each mission added longer stays, more sophisticated experiments, and additional transportation options that let astronauts explore more of the lunar surface.
Apollo vs. Artemis
The Apollo Program wasn’t a simple solution for getting to the Moon and back. Simple would have been to send a rocket to the Moon, land it, and then take off and return to Earth. Weight and fuel considerations made that impossible.
Comparing Apollo technology to Artemis plans, however, does make the former solution sound dead simple.
The technology for Artemis Program missions?
- A throwaway rocket (the Space Launch System or SLS) similar to the Saturn V to deliver a payload to low-Earth orbit.
- A reusable Orion command module with its attached European Space Agency (ESA) service module to transit from low-Earth orbit to the Moon and back.
- A second launch system (either SpaceX- or Blue Origin-built) to deliver landers they are building for Artemis to be used in missions to and from the lunar surface.
- The landers designed to be reusable. Two vendors are competing: SpaceX with the Human Landing System (HLS) and Blue Origin with Blue Moon. An Artemis IV mission scheduled for late in 2027 will test the lander options in low-Earth orbit.
- Multiple launches of SpaceX’s reusable Starships to carry fuel to low-Earth orbit, where one or more Starships configured as tankers will transit to lunar orbit to support lunar activities.
- A lunar infrastructure including a permanent habitat, lunar transportation, communication, and power systems, delivered from Earth.
- Material harvesting and manufacturing technology delivered to the lunar surface to exploit in situ resources.
For Apollo, NASA worked with a short list of private contractors. For Artemis, the door has been opened to many: at least 10 major notable contractors; 4 involved with SLS; 11 and the beginning for landers, now down to 2; 3 for lunar transportation; and many others for elements to support lunar infrastructure.
Current Events vs. Artemis Target Dates
Without talking about the prolonged waiting period to finally get SLS working, and without talking about the problems first encountered with Artemis I and heat shield damage, lots of other milestones for Artemis have not come to fruition.
The recent Artemis II mission slipped from a 2024 launch to April 2026.
Artemis III has been materially altered. It is described as a “risk reduction” mission. Instead of being a flight involving four astronauts going to the Moon and two landing on it, it will test rendezvous and docking with one or both lunar landers. In other words, it will test all of the hardware, software, and crew procedure elements needed for a successful future lunar landing mission, without leaving Earth orbit. The current launch date is sometime in 2027.
What could further hold all of this back? Delivery of the landers in time is the major issue. Recent setbacks include SpaceX’s inability to show that its latest Starship upgrade will be ready and reliable by 2027. The same can be said about Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which would deliver Blue Moon.
Artemis IV is the return to the Moon surface mission. Originally, it was dedicated to delivering pieces and assembling the lunar space station called Gateway. Gateway is gone now. Instead, this mission will launch four crew members to rendezvous and dock with a lander already in lunar orbit. Two of the astronauts will leave Orion and transfer to the lander. They will then descend to the Moon near its south pole. For nearly a week they will explore, perform experiments, and test navigation and communications technologies for use on the surface. Current timing is sometime late in 2028.
Artemis V was originally to happen in late 2028. That isn’t happening, so I expect the mission will slip to 2029 or 2030. Artemis VI, originally scheduled for 2030, will likely slip to 2031. Artemis VII will then likely slip to 2032.
