The Prodigious Artemis II Mission, Returning to the Moon

NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft lift off from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on, April 1, 2026. Photo: Screengrab/NASA video/via iKurd.net

Return to the Moon Paving the Way for the Mission to Mars

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur | Exclusive to iKurd.net

Exactly at 6:35 p.m., this 1st Day of April, 2026, some three and half miles away from the Apollo Saturn Center, Artemis II, neatly and expectantly ascended toward the Moon on launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On board are four of the brightest and most skilled astronauts, moon-bound to reappraise the lunar environment for future human habitability.

This time, with the intention to develop an architectural plan with essential elements needed to build a permanent human habitat on the Moon. Leading the Crew is Commander Reid Wiseman, with fifteen years’ experience in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Flights, Pilot Victor Glover ensures mission success along the flight path from mission start to its safe return to Earth.

The Prodigious Artemis II Mission — NASA’s Artemis II Orion, March 2026. Photo: AP

Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Canadian Astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be keeping record of the Orion working operations, and communications back to the Ground Control team and ensuring overall mission success.

Key Reasons for Deep Space Exploration

Promoting the United States leadership in Space Exploration is the key persuasive factor for the Congress to support the NASA Artemis Program budget request in continuity. With the Artemis program comes jobs and science and technological advances across the globe and inspiration for the youth generation to engage in STEM studies.

Quoting from the NASA website: “Why Go to Space?” generates fundamental questions such as “Why are we here? How did it all begin? Are we alone? What comes next? and, How can we make our lives better on Earth?”. It can be further added that We Are Going because, life on Earth may not be permanently sustainable.

For example, a large asteroid or meteor could hit the earth to end human civilization. Human imagination is another reason that inspires further exploration of space. This could be behind the idea of a “Dream Coming True”. Recall the famous quote by William Arthur Ward, “If you can imagine it, you can achieve it”! The driving force beyond exploration is human imagination wondering to answer the questions above. “Why Not Go to Space?”

Letting Go of The Earth Gravity!

The Artemis, weighing three and half million pounds (3,500,000 lbf), with its powerful Rocket, the SLS (Space Launch System), provides the upward thrust that is one and a half times more than its weight to overcome the pull of the earth’s gravity.

While escaping the earth’s gravity requires technological challenges to produce the required thrust force to go to the moon, the return of the spacecraft can be done by free-falling back to earth. As a rock thrown up in the air returns back to earth, so does a rocket though with precise control, unless it is kept propelled in order to

go deeper in space. In its ten-day mission, the Orion spacecraft will go approximately 4700 miles beyond and around the Moon to investigate the hidden side of the lunar surface after which it will save fuel by entering a free fall back to earth in a precisely controlled descent with no extra energy required.

Orion! The Fifth Astronaut!

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur President of RDI Engineering (L) with the NASA Administrator, former Senator Bill Nelson. OSB II at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, U.S., September 3, 2022. Photo: ARK/handout to iKurd.net

Artemis II Orion is equipped with real time data sensing, collection, sorting and displaying of the spacecraft and the crew’s vital health conditions. In a sense, the Orion Spacecraft, through its sophisticated state of advanced technology and AI thinking power, can self-diagnose and issue a spontaneous clean bill of health to the Crew saying “I feel Good! We are Going”. In reality, this level of technical sophistication, gives the Orion Spacecraft a personality of its own to be considered as the fifth Astronaut voyaging to the Moon and beyond in full safety!

Artemis and the Deep Space Architect

The Artemis program is not just about the powerful rocketry and technological sophistication or choosing a precise and safe navigation path and energy optimization during its 10-day mission. It is also about NASA’s long-term plan to return humanity back to the moon with the intention to create a permanent habitat to stay there for the longer term.

NASA astronauts are counting down to the Artemis II moon launch, March 2026. Photo: NASA

This means in addition to the Artemis SLS-Orion configuration other key elements of the space architect must be designed, built, tested and validated to be stationed in different key orbital positions in space to make deep space exploration possible.

In the upcoming cadence of Artemis missions, NASA plans a long-term commitment to Deep Space Exploration which will take decades to mature to standardized space missions equivalent to routine airplane flights on earth.

The architect of Deep Space Exploration involves several key elements with each element having a stand-alone technological challenge and sophisticated design and development to be stationed in space for future interplanetary travel. Following are some key elements required for readiness for humans to land on the surface of the moon by 2028 with the flight of Artemis IV. These are:

SLS-Orion Configuration. The building-blocks of the SLS-Orion was described in a previous article on this site and can be found at the following links:
1. We Are Going! Destination Deep Space!
2. Go Artemis! NASA’s Quest for Life Beyond Earth!
Moonbase construction, this program has replaced the building of the Lunar Gateway by which building the infrastructure for a moon camp is prioritized by NASA to be built on the surface of the moon. The delivery of construction materials to build the Moonbase will be by private Aerospace Space Flights called Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPC) which operate non-man-rated missions to the Moon using robotics.
NASA astronauts are counting down to the Artemis II moon launch, March 2026. Photo: NASA

Human Landing System (HLS). This program is led by SpaceX to build the Starship Lander and by Blue Origin to build the Blue Moon Mark 2 commercial Lander.
Low Earth Orbit Docking Program. With this program the Orion capsule of Artemis III, will rendezvous with one of the above commercial landers in (3) to safely transfer the astronauts from the Orion to the Lander for future landing on the moon by the Artemis IV.
The Lunar Cruiser is a Toyota made Jeep-Shaped pressurized vehicle in which the Astronauts can explore the surface terrain and particularly the south side of the Moon where the search for frozen ice will be explored. The un-pressurized version of the rover is called the Lunar Transport Vehicle (LTV), made by Intuitive Machines.
Artemis Exploration Ground System (EGS) is the key crucial ground-based system to manage the assembly and launch of the Artemis and its safe flight to the Moon, and to manage the establishment of the Moonbase on the Lunar surface.

Another significant aspect of the Artemis II is that its powerful twin solid rocket boosters are labeled with the 250^th celebration of the founding of the United States. A time when a new system of governance separated the piety of human intentions from political intentions combining it with the spirit of scientific and technological innovations. Artemis II, and myriads of other innovations since, are the results of the past 250 years of political freedom and promotion of science and innovations in commerce and culture.

The United States economic power, leadership in Space and global influence around the world are owed to the establishments of the early educational institutes and their continuous expansions to date, that keep transforming America and the world into the future.

With the advancement in the science and technologies specifically related to Deep Space Exploration, the time may come soon for NASA and the Prime Contractors to establish an American Space University, dedicated to the development of space-travel related science and technologies of the future space exploration.

In conclusion, the Mission of the Artemis II, ushers in the new dawn of human exploration in deep space, starting with our astronauts returning to the Moon, and paving the path for future journeys to the Moon basecamp and then on to Mars as the next stepping stone to one day in the future exploring even beyond the Solar system for a planet out there that can support life.

Ardishir Rashidi-Kalhur, the President of Kurdish American Education Society, Los Angeles, U.S.