Both SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and NASA predict that humans will be able to spend more time on the Moon this decade.
The Artemis missions, according to Howard Hu, NASA's Orion lunar spacecraft programme manager, "allow us to have a sustainable platform and transportation system that allows us to understand how to function in that deep space environment."
"We're going to send people down to the surface, and they'll live there and do science," Hu was quoted as saying in the story released on Sunday.
"It'll be incredibly necessary for us to study a little bit beyond our Earth's orbit and then take a significant stride when we get to Mars," he added.
Five days into the 25.5-day Artemis I mission, Orion is still heading toward the Moon.
As of Sunday, the unmanned Orion had travelled 232,683 miles from Earth and was 39,501 miles from the Moon, travelling at 371 miles per hour.
"It's the first step toward long-term deep space exploration, not only for the United States, but for the entire globe," Hu added.
"I mean, we're going back to the Moon, we're working on a sustainable programme, and this is the vehicle that will transport the astronauts who will land us back on the Moon," a NASA official stated.
The US Orbit Administration launched its next-generation rocket into space this week as part of the unmanned Artemis I Moon mission, which had two failed attempts after years of delays and billions of dollars invested.
The Orion spacecraft was launched into lunar orbit by the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The Orion will go to the Moon and spend several days there before returning to Earth on December 11.
In 2025, NASA plans to conduct the first crewed Moon landing mission since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. This contains the first African-American and woman to walk on the Moon.
Artemis I will build the framework for deep space human exploration while also demonstrating NASA's commitment and capability to extending human existence to the Moon and beyond.
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