The Moonwalk Returns

FIFTY YEARS after astronaut Gene Cernan became the last man to walk on the moon during the final mission of the Apollo space program in 1972, lunar travel will once again become a thing, with several new initiatives slated for blastoff in 2022. NASA is sponsoring 18 missions through its Artemis program, designed to establish a sustainable presence on the moon and help the agency prepare for subsequent missions to Mars. The first of these, Artemis-1, an uncrewed test mission, is set to launch its first rocket to orbit the moon in February. Other countries planning to moonwalk next year: India, Japan, Russia and South Korea.