Which countries will be visiting the moon in 2023

Missions to the moon and farther into deep space will be launched in 2023 by Russia, India, and the European Space Agency.

These will be followed by NASA's Artemis I mission, which just completed a lunar orbit utilising a spaceship intended to land people back on the moon.

Who is launching missions to the moon?

India intends to send a landing module and robotic rover to the moon as part of the Chandrayaan 3 project, which will take out in June 2023. Chandrayaan 1 made India's first lunar landing in 2008.

In July 2023, Russia intends to launch its Luna 25 mission, which will send a probe to the moon's southern polar area to collect samples.

Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese businessman, will travel with eight other people on the DearMoon journey in late 2023, according to SpaceX. Its 100-person Starship vehicle would be used for the first time on this trip.

In 2024, the American space agency NASA intends to launch its subsequent moon mission. The Artemis III mission, which will send the first woman and the first person of colour to the moon, is scheduled to be launched by the US Agency in 2025 or 2026.

Since the final Apollo mission by NASA in 1972, there have been no human landings on the moon. According to NASA, the Space X Starship will be used for the mission.

A joint base will be established by China and Russia on the moon by 2035, although no timetable has been specified for the project.

Why go back to the moon?

Dr McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the US, told the BBC that the goal of space powers like the US, Russia, and China is to establish bases on the moon for astronauts to dwell in.

He claims that the moon is being used as a stepping stone to locations like Mars. It's a fantastic location to experiment with deep-space technologies.