IIRC, it is meant to be kind of an unmanned Apollo 8, go around and get back. I've been focused elsewhere though.

Oh ok, cool, thanks.

Maybe this diagram will help you understand

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Artemis_I_map_October_2021.jpg/1280px-Artemis_I_map_October_2021.jpg

Check out the Wikipedia article too

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_1

Thank you.

The Artemis 1 mission's Orion spacecraft is on its way to the moon's orbit, where it will circle the moon a couple of times, then fly back to Earth and land in the ocean. here's a NASA video showing its planned trajectory.

Thank you, I have indeed, beheld your response.

Artemis I is to prepare to send humans to the moon again. But we won’t have any manned missions for a few years.

​

It's an unmanned flight that will ORBIT the moon, then come back and the empty crew capsule will land in the ocean.

Or Apollo 13 without the drama.

If they didn't bring Jim Lovell, having been in both of these, to consult/comment, it was a wasted opportunity.

Edit: They might as well just call it "Lovell's run" at this point.

[removed]

What is it doing in the moons orbit? Ik the purpose is to eventually send humans back to the moon, but how will Artemis 1 be helping to achieve this?

It's just a test of the whole system all together

Artemis II will (hopefully) do the same thing, but with humans on board, kind of like what Apollo 8 did

And then, Artemis III should be the one to land

[removed]

It's a test flight. One of the most important tests will be of the heat shield which has to withstand thousands of degrees of heat when Orion re-enters Earth's atmosphere at 25,000mph (40,324kph), but of course it's also a test of the SLS rocket that sends Orion into Earth orbit, the OMS engine and maneuvering thrusters that it uses while it's in space, and all the other hardware and software that will eventually be used to send people to the moon.

I don’t understand the purpose of sending humans to the moon. What are they going to achieve that a robot can not?

Prove we can still do it, while we prepare to test our systems for planetary outposts.

Before we sent humans to the moon on Apollo 11, there were a whole bunch of test flights that got progressively closer, so we could work out all the kinks and technical problems associated with landing on the moon.

The Gemini program was basically testing out basic things we would need to go to the moon: long endurance spaceflight, in-space rendezvous and formation flying, docking with another spacecraft, etc.

Then Apollo had a ton of flights before Apollo 11 (ten flights, plus the Apollo 1 disaster). Until Apollo 7 they were all uncrewed tests of the rockets, the capsules, the escape systems, etc.

Apollo 7 tested the command and service modules in space with an actual crew. They stayed in low earth orbit and did a full rundown of all the systems.

Apollo 8 carried the first humans to the moon. It was just the command and service modules with no lander, and orbited the moon before returning home.

Apollo 9 had a lunar lander as well, but stayed in low earth orbit, so the docking/undocking maneuvers could be tested and perfected and all the LM’s systems checked out.

Apollo 10 was everything but the landing, putting all the pieces together from the earlier flights and programs. They flew to the moon, orbited it, and had the first LM in lunar orbit with them, which they took down to just a few miles over the surface of the moon. It was a full dress rehearsal for the actual landing.

Artemis is just doing something similar.

They're going to build a space station near the moon and possibly also a base on the surface in order to establish a permanent human presence there. The two main purposes aside from pure science are to learn how to live in deep space and on other planets, and to figure out how to mine the vast amounts of frozen water and minerals on the moon in order to make further space exploration easier. E.g. water has oxygen for breathing and hydrogen which can be used as fuel. It will be very useful for deep space exploration in the future if we don't have to bring it up from Earth.

Jim Lovell is still alive. Just saying, NASA…

Thanks for your detailed educational response. Much appreciated

There’s some mysterious goo we need to bring there and see how it reacts close to the lunar surface

Third time's the charm. Break Glenn's record

Does this have anything to do with Decepticons?

It was a reference to kerbal space program. You make rockets and go places and do “science” and one of the science is observing mysterious goo

Great graphic! My understanding from a little googling is that Apollo 11 took a little over 4 days to reach the moon. Do you know why the outbound transit is expected to take 8-14 days for the Artemis mission, per the graphic?

Is it... a.. test?

I’m definitely no expert, but my guess is that the motion and positioning of the moon relative to the earth is to blame for the longer trip.

[removed]

May 2024 is the current plan for Artemis II, which will carry humans around the moon and back.

[removed]

Along with the points made by other comments, this mission will bring 10 cubesats that will be released and will orbit the moon for an extended period of time. They will map the surface and scan for resources, giving intel for future missions.

Local resources on the moon allow us to plan our payload, and may present opportunity for interplanetary missions if the resources are abundant enough. Image being able to mine and create rocket fuel on the moon to use on trips to mars, Venus, etc.

Yes it's going to the moon. No it's not landing. It's doing 2 flybys and coming back.

Artemis is confirming a new type of orbit about the moon. A type of orbit they didn't do with any Apollo mission.