Artemis 4 (officially Artemis IV) is the fourth planned mission of NASA's

Artemis program The Artemis program is a robotic and human Moon exploration program led by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with three partner agencies: European Space Agency (ESA), Japan Aerospace Exploration ...

. The mission will launch four astronauts on a

Space Launch System The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any r ...

rocket and an Orion to the

Lunar Gateway The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is the first planned extraterrestrial space station in lunar orbit intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, and short-term habitation module for government-agency astr ...

and the second lunar landing of the Artemis program.

Overview

The main objective of the mission will be assembly of the

. The mission will deliver the I-Hab habitat module, developed by the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

and the Japanese space agency

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

, to the Gateway. The module will be docked with the first Gateway elements, the

Power and Propulsion Element The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), previously known as the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle propulsion system, is a planned solar electric ion propulsion module being developed by Maxar Technologies for NASA. It is one of the major components of ...

and

Habitation and Logistics Outpost The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO),

. This upgrade increases the rocket's trans lunar injection capability from >27 metric tons, to >42 metric tons. It also allows the ability to co-manifest payloads onboard with the Orion spacecraft.

Crew

ESA has indicated that their objective is that Artemis IV would be the first mission of an ESA astronaut to the Gateway.

Spacecraft

Space Launch System

The Space Launch System is a super-heavy-lift launcher used to launch the Orion spacecraft from Earth to a trans-lunar orbit. This will be the first Artemis mission to use an

SLS Block 1B The Space Launch System (SLS) is an American super heavy-lift expendable launch vehicle developed by NASA. As of 2022, SLS has the highest payload capacity of any rocket in operational service, as well as the greatest liftoff thrust of any ...

rocket with an advanced

Exploration Upper Stage The Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) is being developed as a large second stage for Block 1B and Block 2 of the Space Launch System (SLS), succeeding Block 1's Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage. It will be powered by four RL10C-3 engines burning ...

for four upcoming missions until the proposed Artemis 9, which will use SLS Block 2 with advanced boosters.

Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

Orion is the crew transport vehicle used by all Artemis missions. It comprises the Orion Crew Module and the

European Service Module The European Service Module (ESM) is the service module component of the Orion spacecraft, serving as its primary power and propulsion component until it is discarded at the end of each mission. In January 2013, NASA announced that the European ...

and will transport the crew from Earth to the Gateway orbit, dock to the Gateway, deliver the I-Hab module to the Gateway, and return them back to Earth.

Gateway

Gateway is a small modular space station to be established in

Near-rectilinear halo orbit A near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) is a halo orbit with slightly curved – or nearly straight – sides between close passes with an orbiting body. The 2022 CAPSTONE mission is the first such orbit in cislunar space, and this Moon-centric orb ...

(NRHO) in late 2024. The first two Gateway elements (

and the

Habitation and Logistics Outpost The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO),