NASA has pinpointed nine possible landing sites near the lunar South Pole for its upcoming Artemis III mission. This development represents a major milestone toward the first crewed Moon landing in more than 50 years. As part of its preparations for this historic mission, set to launch in 2026, the space agency will carry out additional scientific and engineering assessments of these locations.
The NASA cross-agency site assessment team looked at several regions across the lunar surface to find locations that would balance scientific promise with safety and accessibility. In selecting the landing sites, they analyzed data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and decades of published science research. The teams weighed factors such as terrain slope, proximity to permanently shadowed regions that may contain water and other compounds, communications capabilities, and lighting conditions, among others.
The selection process is critical to the planning and preparations for putting the first woman, person of color, and international partner astronaut on the Moon. It is part of the Artemis program, which was formally established in 2017 via Space Policy Directive 1 and designed to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon and pave the way for human missions to Mars.
According to a NASA release, these nine selected landing sites offer flexibility for mission availability and allow for safe, successful exploration. The site assessments also considered the combined capabilities of the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and the commercial Starship human spaceflight system being developed by SpaceX. The mission will use these vehicles to carry a crew of four astronauts on a 10-day expedition.
As they train for their trip, the crew of the Artemis 2 mission – NASA pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen – has the support of U.S. President Joe Biden. Biden has visited Kennedy Space Center to meet with the crew and learn about their training and plans for the mission, which will be the first to land a crew of humans on the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
During their visit, Biden encouraged the astronauts to do their best on the mission and to continue pushing the boundaries of humanity’s knowledge of the universe around us. He also shared his personal stories about his journey to space and emphasized the importance of continuing the work of the American space program.
The crew of the Artemis 2 mission is expected to launch in 2024 and will include the first woman and person of color to fly to the Moon and the first international astronaut to go on a moonwalk. They have already started training for their ten-day trip in the Orion spacecraft, practicing the various living activities they will perform on the mission, including eating, sleeping, and working together in close quarters. The crew recently drove the mobile launcher to the pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, which included getting soaked during an activity simulating astronauts’ conditions when they board their flight.
