NASA unveils Moon base, Artemis 2 launch

United States — NASA has announced a significant shift in its lunar exploration strategy, cancelling previous plans for an orbiting space station in favor of building a permanent £16 billion base on the Moon's surface using robotic landers and drones. This move aims to expand humanity's presence in space and establish a lunar foothold for the United States before China sends its own astronauts there by 2030. The announcement comes just days before the scheduled launch of the Artemis 2 mission on April 1. This historic mission will be the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972, sending four astronauts, including Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission specialist 1 Christina Koch, and Mission specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen, aboard the Orion (spacecraft) for a 10-day voyage around the Moon. The mission, originally delayed from February due to a helium leak, will test critical life-support systems and pave the way for future lunar landings. Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin are actively developing moon landers for United States — NASA's Artemis program, though they have reportedly fallen behind schedule for their targeted 2028 crewed landings.