“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind!” 

With these words, Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the Moon in 1969. He was followed by a further eleven men in the years that followed. But after the Apollo 17 mission left the Moon in 1972, it would be almost 54 years before humanity returned to our satellite.

Fast forward to the present day: it is 1 April 2026. Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are seated in the Orion capsule, ready for launch in a few hours’ time. That evening, they will lift off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida aboard the SLS rocket.

Their mission is historic. Using the gravitational forces of the Earth and the Moon – the principle of the so-called free-return trajectory, which enabled the Apollo 13 mission to return safely to Earth back in 1970 – they will leave Earth using minimal engine power, set a course for the Moon, orbit it and return to Earth largely under the influence of the Earth’s gravitational pull.

As of 7 April 2026, the astronauts had orbited the Moon at a minimum distance of around 6,545 km. In doing so, they travelled further from Earth than anyone had ever done before (a maximum of 406,771 km) and were able to observe features on the Moon’s surface that had never before been seen by humans. They named two craters: Integrity, after the Orion capsule, and Carroll, after the recently deceased wife of Reid Wiseman.

They are currently on their way back to Earth, having already left the Moon’s gravitational influence, and are expected to arrive on Friday with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

A further three Artemis missions are planned for the coming years, with Artemis IV marking humanity’s return to the lunar surface in 2028 at the earliest.

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