Apollo vs Artemis
Apollo was a Cold War sprint: land first, whatever the cost. Artemis is built to stay, with commercial landers, international partners, and the lunar south pole's water ice as the destination. The contrast shows in nearly every architectural choice.
Missions6 min
Apollo program
NASA's Apollo program landed 12 astronauts on the Moon across six missions from 1969 to 1972, returning 382 kg of lunar samples at a cost of $25.8 billion.
Missions4 min
Artemis program
Artemis is NASA's program to return astronauts to the Moon. Artemis II flew a crewed lunar flyby in April 2026; Artemis IV targets a south pole landing in 2028.
Key differences
- Goal: Apollo aimed to beat the Soviet Union to the surface; Artemis aims for a sustained presence and a proving ground for Mars.
- Architecture: Apollo flew everything on one Saturn V; Artemis splits the job between SLS/Orion for crew transit and commercial landers (Starship HLS, Blue Moon) for the surface.
- Destination: Apollo landed near the equator in daylight; Artemis targets the south pole, where permanently shadowed craters hold water ice.
- Pace and budget: Apollo consumed about 4 percent of the federal budget at its peak and put 12 people on the Moon in 41 months; Artemis has flown two missions since 2022, with the first landing planned for Artemis IV in 2028.
Side-by-side specifications
| Apollo program | Artemis program | |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | NASA | NASA with international and commercial partners |
| Program duration | 1961-1972 | - |
| Launch vehicles | Saturn V, Saturn IB | - |
| First crewed flight | Apollo 7, October 11, 1968 | - |
| First lunar landing | Apollo 11, July 20, 1969 | - |
| Crewed lunar landings | 6 | - |
| Moonwalkers | 12 | - |
| Samples returned | 382 kg (842 lb) | - |
| Cost | $25.8 billion (1960-1973), about $309 billion in 2025 dollars | - |
| Started | - | 2017 |
| Goal | - | Sustained human exploration of the Moon, then Mars |
| Rocket | - | Space Launch System |
| Spacecraft | - | Orion (with ESA service module) |
| Landers | - | Starship HLS, Blue Moon MK2 |
| Flights so far | - | Artemis I (2022, uncrewed), Artemis II (2026, crewed flyby) |
| Next mission | - | Artemis III, Earth-orbit docking tests (2027) |
Figures come from each article's infobox; see the articles for sources and context.