For decades, lunar exploration was defined by astronauts, rovers, and orbiters. But as NASA pushes deeper into the Artemis era, a new class of robotic explorer is quietly emerging, one that could significantly change how humanity navigates the Moon: small autonomous hopping drones.

On April 1, 2026, NASA launched its biggest mission in recent years. With that, photos of the Artemis 2 mission have taken the internet by storm as the general public have found interest in the historic mission. Our team of photographers, along with other media outlets, were able to place photos closer to view the launch closer than any human can witness the launch, here are our favorites.

At 6:32 PM ET Wednesday afternoon, NASA launched its Artemis 2 mission from Kennedy Space Center. This mission is the first crewed mission of the Artemis Program, an initiative to return humans to the surface of the Moon.

Later today, NASA is set to launch its Artemis 2 mission around the Moon. This is the first crewed mission to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The launch will be live streamed from various sources, including official and unofficial streams. Here’s your guide for how to find all of today’s and future coverage.

NASA’s Artemis 2 mission to the Moon is set to launch as soon as later tonight, and it will be the most influential mission to space in recent history. But why? This will not be our first time going to the Moon, and they aren’t even landing. So why is Artemis 2 so important?

After waiting years, the time is finally here for another launch of NASA’s Space Launch System with Artemis 2. This time the stakes are much higher as a crew of four will be riding on top and will circle the Moon, a first since Apollo 17 back in 1972.

As NASA’s Artemis program moves from planning into early missions, public attention tends to focus on the spacecraft carrying astronauts back to the Moon. Heavy-lift rockets, crew capsules, and lunar landers dominate the conversation around humanity’s return to deep space. Yet beneath those visible systems, another layer of the space economy is beginning to take shape. 

At the edge of the Arctic, buried deep inside a frozen mountain on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, lies one of humanity’s quietest insurance policies. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores more than a million seed samples from around the world to form a living archive designed to protect the genetic diversity of Earth’s crops in the event of disaster.

Astrolab and Interlune announced plans to collaborate on integrating excavation technology with Astrolab’s FLEX rover platform. Prototype testing is expected to take place at the Texas A&M University Space Institute, currently under construction near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

On Thursday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced changes to the Artemis mission profiles that will lead to at least a one-year delay in returning humans to the lunar surface. However, the agency believes these changes will strengthen the program overall, allowing for faster launch turnarounds and better testing of flight hardware before it’s needed for surface ops.

NASA has signed a contract with Vast for the sixth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, with a launch targeted no earlier than summer 2027. The mission is expected to last up to 14 days in orbit and will fly aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft.

As NASA’s Artemis program moves forward, questions occasionally arise about the role of the Lunar Gateway, the planned lunar-orbiting station intended to support long-term exploration. It remains part of NASA’s publicly stated architecture, but it is also reasonable to examine what Artemis could look like if that element were delayed, scaled back, or ultimately not flown. 

SpaceX is signaling a recalibration of its near-term priorities, placing renewed emphasis on the Moon as the fastest path toward a self-sustaining off-world settlement, while maintaining Mars as a longer-term objective. The shift is being framed not as a retreat from interplanetary ambition, but as a sequencing decision driven by logistics, cadence, and risk reduction. 

After three decades of discovering exoplanets, astronomers are turning to a harder question: which of those distant worlds might truly be capable of supporting life? NASA has taken an early step toward answering it by selecting industry partners to mature key technologies for the proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory, a next-generation space telescope designed to directly image Earth-like planets orbiting nearby stars.

As the International Space Station approaches the end of its operational life later this decade, low Earth orbit is entering a transition that may be just as consequential as the station’s original construction. NASA has made clear that, rather than replacing the ISS with another government-owned outpost, it intends to purchase services from commercially owned space stations, freeing the agency to focus its resources on deep space exploration and the Artemis program.

China’s upcoming Chang’e-7 mission, targeted for launch later this year, is officially framed as a scientific investigation of the Moon’s south pole. But viewed in context, it also represents a calculated step in a rapidly intensifying global race to establish long-term presence at the lunar poles, where science, technology development, and geopolitical competition increasingly intersect.

It’s been nine months into President Trump’s second term, and the government’s most popular and beloved agency is still without proper leadership. Some rumbles have made it sound like that could change soon, but we’re still awaiting official word.

Blue Origin may just have a shot at taking away SpaceX’s prized Artemis 3 crewed lunar landing, as the company has fallen behind its goals to get an HLS Starship variant ready for a 2027 attempt. Now NASA is looking at new options that may be able to get a lander ready faster.

The race to return humans to the Moon is not just about planting a flag. At stake is something less visible but far more consequential: who sets the rules, builds the infrastructure, and defines the operating playbook for the next era of space exploration. And the answer could ripple far beyond the Moon, shaping how – and how soon – humans reach Mars. 

With New Shepard back in service, New Glenn preparing for another flight, and lunar systems advancing, Blue Origin heads into late 2025 with progress on multiple fronts. The company is simultaneously running programs in suborbital tourism, orbital launch, propulsion, and lunar vehicle development, together outlining a transportation architecture that spans Earth orbit to cislunar space.

When a spacecraft lands on Mars or slams into an asteroid millions of miles away, chances are it came from one of two labs: the Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory or the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. NASA may be the face of American space exploration, but behind that iconic logo are world-class research centers shaping how we reach, explore, and understand the cosmos. JPL and APL are two of the most influential.

Austin, Texas’ ICON is quietly transforming how humanity builds – on Earth and beyond. The construction technology company, known for its innovative 3D‑printed homes, has begun applying its expertise to space. Its advanced robotic systems and signature material, Lavacrete, are being adapted to construct off‑world habitats and infrastructure using local planetary materials.