List of NASA missions

The panel worked closely with NASA and sought input from the United States Congress, the White House, the public, industry, and international partners as it developed its options.

NASA brought the Orion spacecraft back to life from the defunct Constellation program and successfully test-launched the first capsule on December 5, 2014, aboard EFT-1.

NASA plans to use the Orion crew vehicle to send humans to deep space locations such as the Moon and Mars starting in the 2020s.

[9] During the mission, an uncrewed Orion capsule spent 10 days in a distant retrograde 60,000 kilometers (37,000 mi) orbit around the Moon before returning to Earth.

[15] Artemis III is planned to launch in 2026[16] aboard an SLS Block 1 rocket and will use the minimalist Gateway and expendable lander to achieve the first crewed lunar landing of the program.

Comparison of NASA Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle spacecraft with their launch vehicles
Discovery STS-120 launch, October 23, 2007
Astronauts Andrew Feustel (right) and Michael Fincke , outside the ISS during the STS-134 mission's third spacewalk .
Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt standing next to a boulder at Taurus-Littrow.
Astronaut Peter Wisoff on a robotic arm, 1993