Could the Moon become the launch pad for Mars?
Four astronauts flew around the Moon in April. NASA now describes the Moon as the proving ground for Mars, and the next tests are less than a year away.
In April, four astronauts flew around the Moon and came home safely. The Artemis II crew lifted off on April 1 and splashed down on April 10 in the Pacific, after reaching 252,756 miles from Earth, the greatest distance humans have traveled in space.
NASA calls its larger plan Moon to Mars, and the Moon comes first. The agency’s latest architecture update describes a crawl-walk-run approach to building the skills needed for deep space. It also says a lunar nuclear power system would demonstrate critical Mars-forward technologies, which gives astronauts a chance to learn that equipment before anyone depends on it farther away.
That makes “launch pad” a looser phrase than it sounds. In NASA’s own documents, the Moon is a proving ground.
What comes next
The next flight is set for mid-2027. Artemis III will stay in Earth orbit while the crew tests docking with test versions of the SpaceX Starship and Blue Origin Blue Moon landers. A crewed landing is planned for Artemis IV in 2028 near the Moon’s south pole, and NASA says the final choice of site still depends on more data from robotic missions.
Plenty has to go right first. The same report notes concerns about lander readiness and spacesuit delays, and it says in-space propellant transfer has not yet been demonstrated.
The 2027 flight will put Orion and both landers together with astronauts aboard, which makes it the next big test of the plan.