Artemis 4 (officially Artemis IV) is the fourth planned mission of NASA's

Artemis program The Artemis program is a robotic and human Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with three partner agencies: European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration Age ...

. The mission will launch four astronauts on a

Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any r ...

rocket and an Orion to the

Lunar Gateway The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is the first planned extraterrestrial space station in lunar orbit intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, and short-term habitation module for government-agency ast ...

and the second lunar landing of the Artemis program.

Overview

The main objective of the mission will be assembly of the

. The mission will deliver the I-Hab habitat module, developed by the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

and the Japanese space agency

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into o ...

, to the Gateway. The module will be docked with the first Gateway elements, the

Power and Propulsion Element The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), previously known as the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle propulsion system, is a planned solar electric ion propulsion module being developed by Maxar Technologies for NASA. It is one of the major components o ...

and Habitation and Logistics Outpost. The astronauts will then board a

Starship HLS Starship HLS, or Starship Human Landing System, is a lunar lander variant of the Starship spacecraft that will transfer astronauts from a lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back. It is being designed and built by SpaceX under contract ...

docked to the station and descend to the lunar surface for a multi-day mission. Artemis IV will also be the first flight of the Block 1B version of the Space Launch System, which will replace the

Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any ...

used on the first three Artemis missions with the more powerful

Exploration Upper Stage The Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) is being developed as a large second stage for Block 1B and Block 2 of the Space Launch System (SLS), succeeding Block 1's Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. It will be powered by four RL10C-3 engines burnin ...

. This upgrade increases the rocket's trans lunar injection capability from >27 metric tons, to >42 metric tons. It also allows the ability to co-manifest payloads onboard with the Orion spacecraft.

Crew

ESA has indicated that their objective is that Artemis IV would be the first mission of an ESA astronaut to the Gateway.

Spacecraft

Space Launch System

The Space Launch System is a super-heavy-lift launcher used to launch the Orion spacecraft from Earth to a trans-lunar orbit. This will be the first Artemis mission to use an

SLS Block 1B The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any ...

rocket with an advanced

for four upcoming missions until the proposed Artemis 9, which will use SLS Block 2 with advanced boosters.

Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

Orion is the crew transport vehicle used by all Artemis missions. It comprises the Orion Crew Module and the

European Service Module The European Service Module (ESM) is the service module component of the Orion spacecraft, serving as its primary power and propulsion component until it is discarded at the end of each mission. In January 2013, NASA announced that the European ...

and will transport the crew from Earth to the Gateway orbit, dock to the Gateway, deliver the I-Hab module to the Gateway, and return them back to Earth.

Gateway

Gateway is a small modular space station to be established in

Near-rectilinear halo orbit A near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) is a halo orbit with slightly curved – or nearly straight – sides between close passes with an orbiting body. The 2022 CAPSTONE mission is the first such orbit in cislunar space, and this Moon-centric or ...

(NRHO) in late 2024. The first two Gateway elements (

and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost) will launch together aboard a

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

Falcon Heavy Falcon Heavy is a partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle that is produced by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. The rocket consists of two strap-on boosters made from Falcon 9 first stages, a center core also made from a Falc ...

and spend a year spiraling out to the near-rectilinear halo orbit around the moon prior to Artemis IV.

Human Landing System

Current Artemis IV mission plans call for use of the SpaceX Human Lander Sytem Option B configuration to support the lunar landing and return to Gateway phase of the mission.

Mobile Launcher 2

The heavier total mass of the SLS Block 1B vehicle requires use of the Mobile Launcher-2 ground support equipment. Current development schedules and challenges experienced by the ML-2 contractor team in the design and delivery of the system have placed this GSE on the critical path from a schedule perspective. Delays to ML-2 availability for use will delay launch of the SLS Block 1B variant. The NASA Office of Inspectior General (OIG) estimates the earliest that ML-2 will be available for Artemis IV is November 2026.

References

External links

{{Future spaceflights 2027 in spaceflight Artemis program Crewed missions to the Moon Orion (spacecraft) Space Launch System 2027 in the United States Missions to the Moon Crewed spacecraft Future human spaceflights Lunar Gateway NASA spacecraft Space stations