A NASA spokesperson told the BBC that humans could stay on the Moon for long periods of time this decade. Howard Hu, who heads the agency’s Orion lunar spacecraft program, said the habitats will be essential to support science missions. He told Laura Kuensberg on Sunday that Wednesday’s launch of the Artemis launch vehicle carrying Orion marks “a historic day for manned spaceflight.”

Orion is currently about 134,000 km (83,300 miles) from the Moon. The 100-metre-high Artemis rocket took off from Kennedy Space Center as part of NASA’s mission to bring astronauts back to Earth’s moon. At the top of the rocket is the Orion spacecraft, which has no crew for this first mission, but is equipped with a “dummy” that will record the effects of flight on the human body. Wednesday’s flight follows two previous launch attempts in August and September, which were canceled during the countdown due to technical issues.

Mr. Hu told Laura Kunsberg that watching Artemis rise was an “incredible feeling” and “a dream come true”. “This is our first step towards long-term deep space exploration, not just for the United States but for the world,” he said. “I think today is a historic day for NASA, but it’s also a historic day for anyone who loves manned spaceflight and deep space exploration.” “

Mr. Hu explained that if the current Artemis flight is successful, the next one will be with a crew, followed by the third when the astronauts will land on the moon for the first time since Apollo 17, 50 years ago in December 1972. The current mission is going well, he told the BBC, all systems are operational, and the mission team is preparing for the next launch of Orion’s engines (called combustion) at noon on Monday to put the spacecraft into a distant orbit.

Mr. Hu acknowledged that viewing the mission from Earth was like an anxious father, but said that seeing the footage and videos from Orion was “really exciting and had a feeling of ‘Wow, we’re going back to the moon.