Category Archives: Human Moon Missions

Friday / 30 May 2025

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Explore Mars 2025 Humans To the Moon & Mars Summit “H2M2” Acknowledges Moon Priority

Explore Mars organization now aligned with NASA Moon-To-Mars strategy emphasizing Moon first; full recording of 2025 H2M2 is available for both Day 1 and Day 2, views of 100,000+ expected, 11,500 livestream watchers; Dave Limp, Blue Origin CEO emphasizes lunar permanence, using Moon as stepping stone to Solar System; Mike Gold of Redwire discusses importance of Artemis Accords and international collaboration; The Artemis Generation workforce for sustained space exploration can address extreme environment technology gaps described by Jake Bleacher of NASA such as communications

Credits: Explore Mars

Tuesday / 27 May 2025

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Isaacman in His Own Words: Artemis in Focus; NASA Admin Senate Vote Soon

 “I would prioritize the Artemis program; If confirmed, I will focus on getting Artemis back on track”; “There will inevitably be a thriving space economy—one that will create opportunities for countless people to live and work in space”; “NASA should … refocus its world-class talent and infrastructure on … developing the next generation of exploration technologies”; “I would work closely with our [Gateway] partners … to find an acceptable path forward”; “a ~50% reduction to NASA’s science budget does not appear to be an optimal outcome”; Full Senate vote on Isaacman to head NASA likely to be week of 2-6 Jun

Credits: Jared Isaacman, NASA

Tuesday / 20 May 2025

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JAXA Chief Offers Technology Partnership to Keep NASA Moon Missions On-Track

 JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa offers response to NASA budget proposal cutting ~6% of current US$24.8B, although not human exploration portion, says Japan has high-precision Moon landing technology, lunar rover, resupply capabilities and lunar water data to offer Artemis missions; emphasizes lunar Gateway or similar infrastructure needed, could include JAXA human habitation module created with ESA; SLS / Orion are 140% over budget at US$23B, cost US$4B per launch, had been planned to deploy Gateway; NASA budget proposal for FY 2026 beginning Oct 2025 earmarks over $7 billion for lunar exploration, introduces $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs

Credits: JAXA

Friday / 2 May 2025

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NASA Chief Approval Closer as Commerce Committee Hears Isaacman Say “Moon Before Mars”

Jared Isaacman nomination as NASA Administrator moves to full US Senate as Senate Committee votes 19-9 in favor; Schatz of Hawai’i was 1 of 9 opposed but didn’t say why; the 4 Artemis Astronauts were present; US Congress has wanted ‘Moon first’ for 20+ years; Public Law No. 117-167 and NASA Reauthorization Act specify ‘Moon to Mars’; Isaacman says he is ‘committed to following the law’; he wants to see ‘lunar operations become … routine’, ‘NASA to inspire the next generation’ and make a ‘true spacefaring civilization’

Credits: NASA, NASA/Bill Ingalls

Tuesday / 22 April 2025

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Now One Year Out: Artemis 2 Human Mission to Moon

Artemis 2 lunar flyby 10-day mission set for Apr 2026, though NASA is working for Feb; Will be first human Moon mission in 54 years, and will occur in 2026 – the 250th observation of USA Declaration of Independence; Orion solar panels now installed, SLS upper stage connected to interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS), return trajectory adapted to de-stress heat shield; ICPS will fire to reach HEO of 185×74,000km, where manual piloting mode and other systems are tested for 93.5 hours; Orion will make TLI burn to reach 7,400km beyond Moon far side ~370,000km from Earth before Earth-Moon gravity pulls craft back, entering atmosphere at 40,000kph, enduring heat ~2,760°C before splashdown

Credits: NASA

Friday / 11 April 2025

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NASA Expected to Choose 1 of 3 Lunar Terrain Vehicles (LTVs) This Year, Award US$4.6B

3 companies were tasked with building a Moon rover to support Artemis; Lunar Outpost Eagle seats 2 Astronauts in front, each wheel turns independently, screens show what several cameras see, there are tool and sample containers, it can be operated remotely; Astrolab / Venturi / Axiom LTV has 2 Astronauts standing at rear, storage containers for lunar samples; Intuitive Machines RACER holds 2 Astronauts, carries 400kg of cargo plus trailer with 800kg, offers remote control, engineered with 9 companies and input from Moonwalkers Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt

Credits: Space.com/Future/Brett Tingley, Astrolab, Intuitive Machines 

Tuesday / 8 April 2025

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ispace-U.S. Calls Together Science Advisors for Lunar Exploration

Lunar exploration company ispace (ispace-U.S.) has formed U.S. Lunar Science Advisory Board (US LSAB) in conjunction with 1 Apr naming of new CEO Elizabeth Kryst; Chair is Alan Stern, former NASA Associate Administrator; Amanda Hendrix, Planetary Science Institute, who studies Moon composition and lunar resources; Philip Metzger, University of Central Florida, who does regolith research; Lisa Gaddis, LPI, has received many NASA awards, does lunar analysis and geology; Jack Burns, Professor Emeritus of both Astrophysics and Physics, served on numerous NASA committees; Clive Neal, Professor of Planetary Geology, has overseen lunar samples, helped train NASA Astronauts

Credit: ispace (Pictured CW from upper left: Metzger, Stern, Burns, Gaddis, Hendrix, Neal) 

Tuesday / 25 March 2025

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Artemis 2: On-Track to Bring Humans Closer to the Moon than We’ve Been in More Than 50 Years

NASA Astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen are training meticulously for a million-km, 10-day Moon flyby in Orion spacecraft, 1st crewed flight of the Artemis campaign, Artemis II; set to launch NET April 2026 via Space Launch System (SLS), Orion is now at Kennedy Space Center; also there, SLS now has its 64-meter core stage — largest component of the rocket — joined with stacked solid rocket boosters; crew are testing Orion life support, communications and navigation systems and speaking with its engineers

Credits: CSA, NASA

Friday / 21 February 2025

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India to the Moon: Update and Focus

ISRO charting innovative course for human Moon landing by 2040, perhaps near Shiv Shakti where Chandrayaan 3 landed; LVM3 rocket being modified into Human-Rated HR-LVM3 ‘Soorya’ with safety systems, tripled liftoff mass capability ~1.8 million kg; higher-capacity lunar lander being built with Earth Departing Stage (EDS); crewed Moon missions to require minimum 2 launches, then in-space docking / assembly; inaugural double launch NET 2025 for Gaganyaan crewed Earth orbit, then Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample return NET 2027 (updated from 2028); IAF GLEX Conference upcoming May 7-9 in New Delhi

Credits: ISRO, NASA/JPL/USGS

Tuesday / 18 February 2025

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Cosmosphere and The Moonwalkers Offer Moon Inspiration and Education

Apollo 16 Moonwalker Charlie Duke is donating 25 Kansas flags to Smithsonian-affiliated Cosmosphere Space Museum – the Moon-flown 10×15 cm flags display Kansas state motto Ad Astra Per Aspera: To the Stars Through Difficulties; now premiering in USA is 50-minute film The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks, co-written and narrated by him, at Space Center Houston on 5-story-high screen with 7 projectors, incorporating NASA archival films and photos, featuring the Artemis II crew

Credits: Cosmosphere, NASA, Lightroom.uk