CAPSTONE is a vital step in returning humans to the lunar surface.
The SLS — which will be the most powerful rocket ever launched by humanity — currently waits at the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center to send the Artemis I into space. The aim will be to test both the SLS and theFollowing the launch — currently set for 2022 — Orion will journey to 62 miles above the lunar surface and then will travel around 40,000 miles beyond the moon, before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean around 20 to 25 days after launch.
By 2025 or 2026, the Artemis mission is planned to lead to the first woman and person of color setting foot on the lunar surface. Beyond this, NASA plans to use the moon and Gateway as a leap pad for a crewed mission to Mars with CAPSTONE functioning as an important data-gathering step in that adventure. Before the SLS the most powerful rocket devised by humanity was the Saturn V. And just like the SLS will do for Artemis, one of the key missions for Saturn V was delivering astronauts to the moon as part of the Apollo missions.