Trump wants to return Americans to the moon as part of the Artemis program, which his first administration started in 2017.
In addition, the US president ordered that Americans on the moon build “the first elements of a permanent base on the moon by 2030 to ensure America’s continued presence in space and to enable the next steps in Mars exploration,” according to the executive order available on the White House website.
As part of the Artemis program, the United States launched the Artemis I mission, an unmanned flight in which the Orion spacecraft was gravitationally maneuvered into a distant orbit around the Moon and then turned back toward Earth. Next year, a manned mission is planned, during which the crew should circle the moon and return.
The last humans walked on the surface of the Moon at the end of 1972. That’s when NASA sent a three-man crew on the Apollo 17 mission to Earth’s only satellite.
