Dragon XL

Signed on the 45th anniversary of the final crewed mission to the Moon, Space Policy Directive 1 directed NASA to begin a mission to send the next man and first woman to the Moon with a pathway to continue onto the crewed exploration of Mars. Since then, the Artemis program has expanded to include already existing programs as well as new commercialized contracts for new services.

SpaceX will be instrumental in NASA’s Artemis mission to send the first woman and next man to the moon by 2024. NASA has selected Elon Musk’s space exploration company to be the first U.S. commercial provider to deliver cargo to the Lunar Gateway — the space agency’s lunar orbiting hub.