Now that Artemis II has completed its lunar flight and returned to Earth, Artemis is no longer a concept or a promise. It is a working American deep space architecture.
In a single mission, the Artemis II crew conducted manual piloting and proximity operations while the Orion spacecraft operated at lunar range, proving the life support, propulsion, power, thermal, navigation and reentry systems that generated the operational data that NASA says will shape the missions that follow.
As we celebrate this achievement, it is worth remembering how this mission began — and why it matters.
ARTEMIS II ALMOST END OF HISTORIC SPLASHDOWN MISSION OFF CALIFORNIA COAST
At the start of his first term, Donald Trump saw what no president since Richard Nixon had seen clearly enough: returning to the moon is not a relic of the glory days of the last century. It’s the strategic culmination of this one.
The triumph of Artemis II began on December 11, 2017 with the signing of Space Policy Directive-1. It led NASA away from two dead ends.
The first was the Obama-era asteroid trail, in which NASA planned to place a boulder from a near-Earth asteroid into orbit around the moon and send astronauts there as a stepping stone to Mars. It was the kind of foolish undertaking that only Washington could love – expensive, complicated and without the geopolitical clarity of a return to the moon.
Artemis II proved that deep space systems work, but the real strategic battle with China has only just begun.
The second was America’s long hold pattern in low Earth orbit. Sure, years of useful work aboard the International Space Station, but no serious strategy for getting into space and regaining leadership beyond it.
In the Trump doctrine, the moon is not just a destination. It is the next great platform of national power – a logistics hub, a scientific outpost, a testing ground for the space industry and a potential source of water ice for drinking water, oxygen and rocket fuel.
It is also where the technologies of space manufacturing, energy generation, navigation, extraction and transportation will be tested and refined and where military advantage, industrial capacity, technological leadership and geopolitical influence all come together.
In this image from NASA, the Artemis II crew members, from left to right: Victor Glover Jeremy Hansen, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch, pause to rotate the camera for a selfie midway through their lunar observing period of the moon during a lunar flight on Monday, April 6, 2026. (NASA via access point)
That is precisely why communist China is openly targeting a manned moon landing in 2030 and an international lunar research station together with Russia in 2035. This is a battle for position. The nation that gets there first will shape much more than just headlines. It will determine the future balance of power.
The genius of Artemis is that it is not purely a government effort. It’s a public-private partnership designed to leverage exactly what America does best: entrepreneurial innovation, private sector speed, and collaboration with allies.
ASTRONAUT TELLS CNN ‘ENTIRE’ TRUMP ADMINISTRATION DESERVES CREDIT FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE ARTEMIS MISSION
NASA provides the anchor mission and strategic architecture. The broader design relies on commercial companies and friendly nations, and SpaceX and Blue Origin are central to the landing architecture.
Artemis II teaches us something essential about the nature of deep space exploration. People are still important.
In the first space race, Apollo demonstrated to the world that America could outpace, outpace, and outlast its authoritarian rival. It also accelerated key technologies – microelectronics, computing, materials science, telecommunications, precision manufacturing, propulsion and guidance systems – strengthened our defense industrial base and renewed confidence in the nation’s ability to build and win.
In this second match, Artemis teaches us something essential about the nature of deep space exploration. People are still important.
ARTEMIS II LAUNCHES ASTRONAUTS AROUND THE MOON IN FIRST DEEP SPACE MISSION SINCE APOLLO
NASA didn’t send four passengers around the moon. It sent trained observers – the eyes of our lunar scientists on Earth. During the flight on the far side, the crew photographed and described impact craters, ancient lava flows, cracks and ridges and subtle differences in color, brightness and texture that help scientists understand the moon’s geological history.
Artemis II also turned out to be something bigger than technology. It reminded the world that America can still do hard things in full view of the public. Fox’s own reporting focused on the mission’s defining images: Earthset, the blackout on the other side and Trump’s call to hail the crew as “modern pioneers.”
Artemis is not just exploration. It’s strategic theatre, alliance management and rule setting in real time. In that sense it is Trumpian.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS ADVICE
The mission also underscored a harder truth: Serious space programs are built on mastery of the unglamorous. Coverage stuck during the blackout behind the moon. But a permanent presence on the moon will depend less on spectacle than on whether America can master sanitation, storage, cabin atmosphere, packing operations, radiation protection, emergency procedures, accurate communications, reentry and recovery.
The Artemis II crew captured this image of an Earthset on Monday, April 6, 2026, as it flew around the moon. (NASA via access point)
Major forces do not remain on the moon by taking the photo. They stay there by making the plumbing, procedures and ride home work.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
What’s next? Bank the data, record the lessons from the flight and move fast. Fly Artemis III in 2027 to test the orbital systems for the commercial landers and the new moon suits. Then use Artemis IV in 2028 to put Americans back on the moon’s surface. Then maintain a real cadence: at least one surface mission per year and eventually sooner if the architecture holds up and reusable commercial hardware matures as planned.
What Washington must provide is speed, money and determination. Because if America treats Artemis as just another program to be managed, we could see a red moon rising for a long time to come.
Peter Navarro is co-author with Greg Autry of “Red moon rising.”
CLICK HERE TO GO TO PETER NAVARRO
