Artemis II rocket mission to the moon: What you need to know

The U.S. is once again challenging itself to go to the moon, and this time, NASA and the Trump administration want to establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface.

In 1961, during the height of the Cold War with the Soviet Union and in an address to a joint session of Congress, President John F. Kennedy challenged the country to land a person on the moon by the end of the decade. 

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish," Kennedy said.

A year later, in a speech at Rice University, Kennedy’s words would become forever connected with the Apollo program when he said, "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

NASA and the aerospace industry met this challenge, and to this day, the United States is the only country to have ever sent humans to the moon. But that feat required steps. Before Apollo 11 saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the lunar surface, Apollo missions 4 through 10 laid the foundation for that historic accomplishment.

The U.S. is once again challenging itself to go to the moon, and this time, NASA and the Trump administration want to establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface. Before they can build a settlement, however, they need to show that our new moon mission rocket, spacecraft and technology work as intended.