"Characterized as a challenge high in risk, NASA's Artemis I flight test opens a
new era in human space exploration, one intended to provide global dividends across the science, economic and global leadership spectrums, agency
leaders said as the mission's two-day launch countdown got underway.
Liftoff of the 322-ft. Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to send an uncrewed Orion capsule on a 42-day mission around the Moon and back—designed to assess the hardware and operations for human missions to follow—is set for April 29 at 8:33 a.m. EDT at the opening of a 2-hr. launch window, with backup
opportunities on Sept. 2 and 5.
Officially, the agency is targeting a late-2025 launch for Artemis III, which is
expected to become the first post-Apollo mission to deliver astronauts to the surface of the Moon, with landing planned for the unexplored south pole.
Follow-on efforts to establish a sustained lunar presence with international and commercial partners are aiming to vault humanity to Mars in the late
2030s or early 2040s, according to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson."
See:
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/space-focus/artemis-i-opens-door-new-space-exploration-program
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