NASA's Artemis II astronauts returned to Earth in April after a 10-day journey around the moon and back, and the four-person crew has since headed to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers. The visit underscores the political momentum behind the Artemis program as NASA pushes toward a crewed lunar landing.
The flight marked the first human lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972, testing the Orion spacecraft's life support, navigation, and propulsion systems in deep space. The crew—commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen—spent 10 days in transit, looping around the far side of the moon before returning for a splashdown in the Pacific.
Artemis II launched in early April from Kennedy Space Center atop the Space Launch System rocket, the most powerful ever built. The mission followed years of delays and budget overruns, including technical issues with Orion's heat shield and software glitches that pushed the launch from late 2024 to 2026.
The Capitol Hill meetings are aimed at securing continued funding for Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts near the lunar south pole as early as 2028. While the program enjoys bipartisan support, some lawmakers have questioned its cost—NASA's Artemis budget has already exceeded $93 billion since 2012.
A counter argument holds that the program's ballooning costs and repeated schedule slips undermine its long-term viability. Critics argue that commercial alternatives, such as SpaceX's Starship, could achieve lunar missions at a fraction of the price and timeline, though Starship has yet to complete an uncrewed orbital test to the moon.