Astronauts to return to the Moon after 54 years under Artemis program.

Artemis II will fly as an engineering mission to test Orion and related systems, and Artemis III is officially slated to land astronauts on the Moon by 2028 but faces delays because the dedicated lunar lander has not yet been completed.

Artemis II will fly as an engineering mission to test spacecraft systems and crew performance. It is intended to exercise propulsion, navigation, life support, guidance, communications and the teams on the ground and in mission control. NASA has not sent astronauts to the Moon in 54 years, and the Artemis program is intended to resume crewed lunar missions. Artemis III is officially assigned to land astronauts by 2028, but schedule slips and technical challenges have raised doubts about that target. Known details: - Artemis II is described as an engineering mission focused on testing onboard systems, crew readiness, the launch team in Florida, and mission controllers in Houston. - Artemis III is officially planned to perform a lunar landing and the schedule has shifted repeatedly, with earlier targets including 2024, 2025, September 2026, and mid-2027 before the current 2028 goal. - A central challenge is that the lunar lander required for Artemis III does not yet exist, creating a major scheduling constraint. - In 2021, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract, reported as $2.89 billion, to build the lander using the upper stage of Starship as the lunar descent vehicle. - The proposed Starship-derived lander is much larger and heavier than Apollo's lunar module — the article notes Apollo's module was about 23 feet tall and 32,500 pounds, while the Starship configuration is described as roughly 165 feet tall and about 200,000 pounds, and would require refueling in orbit via multiple tanker launches and an onboard elevator for crew transfer. Summary: Artemis II will provide a systems-level test to assess spacecraft hardware and operational teams ahead of any lunar landing attempt. Artemis III remains the planned landing mission, but its timing depends on completing and testing the new lunar lander, and the official 2028 target is reported to be uncertain.