The university’s researchers work on topics ranging from the impacts of space exploration on the human body to developing food for astronauts.

Artemis I lasted 25 days, focused on testing the Space Launch System (SLS), the vehicle moniker, not only for a return flight to the moon but also for missions much farther into space. One legacy of the Apollo adventure is providing a foundation for much more expansive space exploration. This successful test mission was launched on Nov. 16, 2025.

Last week, on the same day the Artemis II mission blasted off for the first human flight around the Moon in more than 50 years, it emerged that Elon Musk’s SpaceX had filed for a record-breaking stock market listing to raise as much as $75bn.

Americans’ opinion of space exploration is pretty high.

There seems to be something of a “been there, done that” impression this time, a sense that the American public wasn’t “sold” in advance on the Artemis objectives. In terms of public interest, space flight seems to be losing out to college basketball.

The National Air and Space Museum’s Virginia location now displays the objects which represent critical leaps forward in technology and exploration by NASA

Walter Cronkite, the news anchor for CBS evening news for years, was always there as my space exploration guide. He was THE voice of the American space age. He literally anchored all the manned missions from Mercury, Gemini, the Apollo landings and into the space shuttle era.

It's an adventure that launched humans farther from Earth than ever before. Space enthusiasts in the Mid-State explain how this successful NASA mission ushers in a new era for space exploration.