Astronauts have set off on a journey to the moon again after nearly 54 years since humans set foot on the moon's surface. For the first time since the 'Apollo 17' mission in 1972, a rocket carrying four astronauts was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4 am (Nepalese time) on Thursday in collaboration with various countries, including the US space agency NASA. 

This mission, named 'Artemis II', will be a journey of about 10 days. It includes the first female, black and non-American (Canadian) astronauts. They will orbit 7,400 km above the moon's surface. They will return to Earth after traveling around the moon for about 8.9 million km. This time, the journey is not only for exploration but also with the goal of establishing a long-term human presence on the moon. 

It takes about 3 to 4 days to reach the moon from Earth. The mission, which has been postponed for a month due to weather and other technical issues, will not land passengers on the moon. NASA's powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will be used for this mission. It will carry the Orion spacecraft into space. 

Orion is about to travel the farthest in human history. NASA said that during the mission, passengers will test various new technologies, instruments and systems, as well as perform manual control exercises and various evaluations of the spacecraft's performance. 

Upon returning to Earth, the spacecraft will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of about 40,000 kilometers per hour. At that time, the spacecraft's heat-resistant shield will be tested and the feasibility of reuse will be assessed. 

NASA officials have described the mission as an important bridge between past exploration and future permanent settlement. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has called it the beginning of a new era of exploration and emphasized the importance of international cooperation and private sector participation. While the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s were focused on short-term lunar landings and geopolitical competition, the Artemis program is geared toward building long-term infrastructure. Along with the US, the Canadian and European Space Agencies are involved. Private sector partners include SpaceX and Blue Origin. 

The main goal of this mission is to build a future Lunar Gateway space station and habitable structures on the lunar surface. Just last week, NASA announced an ambitious plan to invest about $20 billion to establish a long-term human presence on the lunar surface. Even the White House, the President's Office, has expressed special support for this, with the message that 'America will never give up on the moon'. 

“This is about building a permanent human presence on the lunar surface,” NASA Administrator Nelson said in a statement. “We are not just going to visit the moon, we are also preparing for long-term habitation there.” Private partners are expected to play a major role in reducing the long-term cost and timeline for traveling to the moon, building and operating a base camp. 

The importance of this mission is not limited to reaching and returning. The moon is envisioned as a base for scientists to Mars and beyond. It will test long-term habitation, resource utilization and autonomous technologies. The Artemis program is expected to open up new possibilities for the space economy. 

It includes plans for everything from mining the moon’s natural resources to in-space manufacturing. However, its cost is high, with NASA estimating the total cost of the entire Artemis mission to exceed $90 billion.

Of NASA’s 17 Apollo missions from 1969 to 1972, six of them successfully landed 12 astronauts on the moon. However, no one had thought about establishing long-term structures or making human habitation possible at that time. 

The current new plan has brought the race to excel in space back into the mainstream. In this, China has also moved forward with lunar missions and base construction plans. China has put forward a plan to land a manned spacecraft on the lunar surface by 2030 and build a long-term base camp by 2035. It is in this context that the proposal to establish a NASA Joint Research Center has come up.