2026 is the year humanity will finally go back to the moon

2026年是人类最终重返月球的一年

Astronauts haven't visited our nearest celestial neighbor since 1972. That's when NASA astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt spent three days on the moon before rejoining Apollo 17 crewmate NASA astronaut Ron Evans aboard their command module in lunar orbit. After two more days circling the moon, the trio ignited their engine on a return trajectory back to Earth. As they flew away, theirs became the last sets of eyes to see the moon up close.

自1972年以后，宇航员便再没访问过距离我们最近的“天体邻居”。在那时，美国宇航局的宇航员尤金·塞尔南和哈里森·杰克·施密特在月球上停留了三天，随后在月球轨道的指挥舱上与阿波罗17号的宇航员罗恩·埃文斯重新会合。绕月飞行两天后，三人组在返回地球的轨道上点燃了引擎。当他们飞走时，他们成了最后几双近距离看到月亮的眼睛。

Now, after decades of ever-elongating timelines, evolving mission frameworks and years of delays, NASA is ready to go back. The U.S. space agency's Artemis program faces its second mission in 2026, and it will be the first to carry a crew of astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft. The Artemis 2 mission is designed to fly its crew once around the moon before returning them to Earth over the course of about 10 days, during which the astronauts will become the first in a generation to see the moon up close.

如今，在经历了时间线不断拉长、任务框架反复调整的数十年，以及多年延期之后，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）终于准备重返月球。该机构的阿耳忒弥斯计划将在2026年迎来它的第二次任务，这也是首次宇航员将搭乘猎户座飞船出征的载人飞行。阿耳忒弥斯2号任务计划让乘组绕月飞行一周后返回地球，整个旅程历时10天左右，在此期间，这些宇航员将成为这一代首批近距离观察月球的人类。

Artemis 2 follows the November 2022 launch of an uncrewed Orion on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on Artemis 1. At the time, NASA had hoped to fly Artemis 2 in 2023, but damage to Orion's heatshield during atmospheric reentry pushed that goalpost by a year, and then another year.

在阿耳忒弥斯2号之前，2022年11月，美国宇航局的太空发射系统(SLS)火箭在阿耳忒弥斯1号上发射了无人猎户座号。当时，NASA曾希望在2023年发射阿耳忒弥斯2号，但猎户座在重返大气层期间隔热罩损坏，这一目标便被推迟了一年又一年。

Through its series of planned Artemis missions, NASA plans to establish a permanent outpost on the moon. From there, the agency hopes to develop and mature the technologies needed to expand deeper into the solar system to places like Mars.

通过计划内的一系列阿耳忒弥斯任务，NASA计划在月球上建立一个永久前哨基地。该机构希望以此为跳板开发并完善所需技术，进而向太阳系更深处进军，实现载人登陆火星等更远大的目标。

A lot of U.S. spaceflight discourse this past year has focused on when NASA will get boots on the lunar surface, and whether U.S. astronauts will land on the moon's southern polar region before a group of Chinese taikonauts plants their flag there first. When President Trump's fiscal year 2026 budget proposal was released, the administration put a stronger emphasis on NASA's human exploration of space —  despite cutting NASA's funding by nearly a quarter and its science programs virtually in half. That emphasis, though, put a spotlight on the Artemis program and invited deeper scrutiny of NASA's launch system and lunar lander development.

过去一年，美国的许多航天讨论都集中在美国宇航局何时登陆月球表面，以及美国宇航员能否赶在中国航天员之前将旗帜插上月球南极。2026财年，特朗普总统的预算提案虽削减了NASA近四分之一的整体预算、几乎腰斩其科学项目经费，却着重强调了载人太空探索的重要性。然而，这种强调尽管让人们开始关注阿尔忒弥斯计划，但同样引发了对美国宇航局发射系统和月球着陆器开发的深入审查。

Under NASA's current plan, Artemis 2 and 3 rely on the agency's SLS rocket to launch its Orion spacecraft to cislunar space, where it will dock with the Gateway space station, for transfer to a lunar lander for the last leg down to the surface. NASA's Human Landing Services (HLS) contract for that vehicle was awarded to SpaceX for a version of their Starship vehicle currently being developed to transport Artemis 3 astronauts down to the moon's surface — a controversial decision which elicited industry pushback and, more recently, one that NASA has begun backpedalling on.

根据NASA目前的方案，阿耳忒弥斯2号和3号任务将依靠SLS火箭将猎户座飞船送入地月空间，在那里与"门户"（Gateway）空间站对接，随后换乘月球着陆器完成最后一段着陆航程。NASA的载人着陆服务(HLS)合同授予了SpaceX，而由该公司正在研发的星舰（Starship）改进型负责将阿耳忒弥斯3号的宇航员送至月面。这一争议性决定曾引发业界强烈反弹，而近来NASA似乎在此问题上改变主意。

Criticisms of both SLS and Starship have called the program's architecture and timeline into question. Before its first launch in 2022, SLS spent more than a decade in development at a cost of nearly $50 billion since 2006.

对SLS和星舰的批评，已让整个阿耳忒弥斯计划的技术架构与时间进度备受质疑。在SLS火箭在2022年首飞之前，研发周期就已历经了十余年，自2006年以来的耗资已近500亿美元。

In the time it took to turn the SLS design schematics to a fully realized and assembled rocket, SpaceX introduced the world to reliable rocket reusability — not something SLS was designed for. And, with the successful recovery and relaunch of SpaceX's newest Super Heavy booster this year, some have questioned whether SLS's $4 billion-per-launch price tag is the most cost-effective way to send Orion to orbit.

在SLS从图纸变成实体火箭的漫长周期里，SpaceX已向世界证明了火箭回收复用的可靠性——而这正是SLS被设计之初就未考虑的方向。更何况，随着今年SpaceX成功回收并再次发射其最新的"超重型"助推器（Super Heavy），一些人不禁质疑：SLS单次发射动辄40亿美元的"天价"，真的就是将猎户座送入太空的最划算方案吗？

Starship is another story. SpaceX seems to have worked out much of the kinks developing the Super Heavy booster responsible for launching Starship — though a recent mishap of the booster's latest version did rupture during a pressurization test. The company has successfully caught three Super Heavy boosters using the giant "Mechazilla" chopstick-like arms attached to the rocket's launch tower, and managed to refly one of those boosters during one of Starship's 2025 test flights. Starship, however, did not have as good a year.

星舰的情况则另当别论。尽管其最新版本在近期的一次压力测试中不幸发生了破裂，SpaceX也基本解决了用于发射星舰的"超重型"助推器在研发过程中遇到的诸多技术难题。该公司已成功利用发射塔上那双巨型“机械哥斯拉"（Mechazilla）筷子般的机械臂三次捕获了超重型助推器，并在2025年的一次星舰试飞中成功让其中一枚助推器再次升空。然而，星舰飞船本身今年的表现却不尽如人意。

Of its five launches in 2025, Starship only completed its mission objectives on the final two. The development delays have raised concerns about the vehicle's readiness for Artemis 3, which NASA had hoped to launch in 2027, but internal SpaceX documents obtained by Politico in November indicate the company doesn't expect Starship to be ready for that mission until 2028.

在2025年的五次发射中，星舰仅有最后两次成功达成了全部任务目标。研发进度的持续滞后，令外界担忧该飞行器能否为NASA原定于2027年发射的阿耳忒弥斯3号任务及时准备就绪；然而，美国政治新闻网Politico于11月获取的SpaceX内部文件显示，该公司预计星舰要到2028年方可具备执行该任务的条件。

U.S. lawmakers, space industry leaders and even former NASA administrators have spoken out publicly in criticism of Starship's delayed development, and are raising red flags that such delays could hand control of the moon to China.

美国国会议员、航天业界领袖乃至NASA前局长均已公开批评星舰研发的进度滞后，并为此敲响警钟，担忧此类延误可能将月球控制权拱手让与中国。

During testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee in September, former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine cautioned against positioning the Artemis program to become completely reliant on SpaceX for mission success. "Unless something changes, it is highly unlikely the United States will beat China's projected timeline," he said.

9月份，在参议院商务委员会的听证会上，NASA前局长吉姆·布里登斯廷（Jim Bridenstine）警告称，不应让阿耳忒弥斯计划陷入必须完全依赖SpaceX才能成功的境地。他表示："除非出现重大变数，否则美国极有可能无法赶在中国的预期时间表之前实现目标。"

That's a problem, experts say. The U.S. and China are both eyeing the moon's southern polar region to set up camp, where scientists believe there is an abundance of water ice — a valuable resource that can be used to provide astronauts with everything from suitable drinking water to rocket fuel. It's also a matter of national security. "If our adversaries achieve dominant space capabilities, it would pose a profound risk to America," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said during the Commerce Committee hearing at which Bridenstine testified.

专家指出，问题正在于此。美、中两国均将目光投向月球南极，计划在此建立据点；科学家认为该区域蕴藏着丰富的水冰资源，这种宝贵物质既能提供宇航员的饮用水，又可转化为火箭燃料。这也是出于国家安全层面的考量。得克萨斯州共和党参议员泰德·克鲁兹在布里登斯廷出席作证的商务委员会听证会上警告称："如果我们的对手在太空领域取得主导权，这将对美国构成重大威胁。"

NASA, too, is feeling the pressure. Unsatisfied with SpaceX's progress, acting agency administrator Sean Duffy announced in October that NASA was considering reopening the HLS contract to other bidders, including Blue Origin, who objected to Starship's selection over their Blue Moon lander, which is originally slated for Artemis 5. Now, NASA may decide to go with whichever lander is ready first, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has voiced skepticism over the competing company's ability to qualify their lander before SpaceX does so with Starship.

美国宇航局也感受到了压力。因对SpaceX的进展不满，代理机构局长肖恩·达菲(Sean Duffy)在10月份宣布，NASA正在考虑向其他竞标者重新竞标HLS合同，其中包括蓝色起源(Blue Origin)，该公司曾强烈反对NASA选择星舰而非他们的"蓝月"（Blue Moon）着陆器，而此飞行器原定于阿耳忒弥斯5号任务中使用。现在，NASA可能会决定先使用哪个着陆器，但SpaceX首席执行官埃隆·马斯克对此公开表示质疑，认为竞争对手难以在SpaceX完成星舰认证之前，率先让自己的着陆器达标。

For its part, China's lunar ambitions and timeline to achieve them are about on par with the U.S., only the speed at which they're developing the technologies to accomplish those goals is quickly worrying those in the U.S. space industry who see stalls in Artemis' evolution.

就其本身而言，中国方面的登月雄心与实现目标的时间表与美国大致相当；然而，中方技术研发的速度却令那些眼看阿耳忒弥斯计划步履蹒跚的美国航天界人士感到担忧。

In 2025, China has continued to close key technical gaps, advancing work on its Long March 10 lunar rocket, next-generation crewed spacecraft (named Mengzhou) and a crewed lunar lander. Beijing has also pressed ahead with reusable launch vehicle tests (though its most recent landing attempts were unsuccessful) reinforcing a development cadence that looks increasingly steady as Artemis faces schedule pressure.

2025年，中国继续攻克关键技术难关，推进长征十号运载火箭、新一代载人飞船（名为"梦舟"）以及载人月球着陆器的研制工作。北京方面也在加快推进可重复使用运载器的试验（尽管其最近一次着陆尝试未能成功），这种稳步推进的研发节奏，与正面临进度压力的阿耳忒弥斯计划形成鲜明对比

The question still remains which country will successfully land astronauts (or taikonauts) back on the moon first, but there's no denying which nation will be the first to fly a crew to lunar space in the new millennium.

究竟哪国能率先将宇航员或是航天员成功送回月球，目前仍无定论；但千年来首个将载人飞船送入月球空间的国家是谁，却已毫无悬念。

After Artemis 1, NASA named the crew of the upcoming Artemis 2 flight. The mission will be flown by NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman as Artemis 2 commander, Victor Glover as pilot, and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen as mission specialists. The quartet has spent the last three years training for every aspect of their flight around the moon, with a major ramp-up over the past year that has included NASA's broader Artemis team.

在阿耳忒弥斯1号之后，NASA公布了阿耳忒弥斯2号任务的乘组名单。NASA宇航员里德·怀斯曼（Reid Wiseman）担任指令长，维克多·格洛弗（Victor Glover）担任驾驶员，克里斯蒂娜·科赫（Christina Koch）与加拿大航天局宇航员杰里米·汉森（Jeremy Hansen）担任任务专家。过去三年来，四人一直在为绕月飞行的各个环节进行训练，过去一年训练强度更是大幅提升，并纳入了NASA更广泛的阿耳忒弥斯团队成员参与。

"The consolidation and momentum that's building in the wider team — the flight control team, the launch control team — we are firing on all cylinders with those guys doing problem solving, answering questions that no one knows the real answer to," Koch told Space.com in an interview. "Every person that walks into every room is just ready to contribute the most that they can and to get to the right answer as a team," she said.

科赫在接受Space.com采访时说到：“这是一个更广泛的团队，有飞行控制团队、发射控制团队，并且正在整合，势头正盛，我们正在全力以赴解决问题，并回答没人知道真正答案的问题。每个房间的每个人都在尽自己所能做出最大的贡献，并为团队得到正确的答案。”

Koch and the other members of the Artemis 2 crew are eager to launch on their mission, and if NASA's current schedule holds, they may get that opportunity as early as February 2026. NASA is targeting no earlier than Feb. 5 for the first Artemis 2 launch window, and may roll the mission's completed SLS rocket from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, to Launch Complex-39B as early as January. If they run into another delay, the space agency has determined additional launch windows in the months to follow, through April.

科赫与其他阿耳忒弥斯2号乘组成员都迫切希望执行任务。若NASA目前的计划不变，他们最早可能在2026年2月获得发射机会。NASA设定的最早发射窗口为2026年2月5日，其组装完成的SLS火箭可能最早于1月从肯尼迪航天中心的飞行器装配大楼转运至39B发射复合体。若再次遭遇延误，航天局已确定后续数月内仍有其他发射窗口，一直持续到4月。

Once the day of their launch does arrive, the Artemis 2 crew will board the Orion spacecraft and ride SLS into Earth's orbit for a mission that will last roughly ten days. Should the launch go smoothly and checkouts of Orion's systems while in orbit come back nominal, a translunar injection burn of SLS's upper stage will propel Orion into a free-return trajectory around the moon, slingshotting the spacecraft around the moon and back to Earth on a course in the shape of a figure-eight. The trajectory doesn't fully place Orion in lunar orbit, but it guarantees the spacecraft and crew's return to Earth regardless of any anomalies they might encounter around the moon.

发射的那天一旦到来，阿耳忒弥斯2号机组人员将登上猎户座飞船，乘坐SLS进入地球轨道，执行一项持续近十天的任务。若发射一帆风顺，且飞船在轨自检显示一切正常，SLS的上面级将点火实施地月转移注入，推动猎户座进入一条绕月自由返回轨道，届时，飞船将如弹弓般绕月飞行，继而沿"8字形"轨迹踏上归途。该轨迹并没有完全将猎户座置于月球轨道，但它能确保无论途中遭遇何种意外，飞船与乘组都能平安返回地球。

While the main objective of Artemis 2 is to put Orion through its paces on its first mission carrying astronauts, the crew will also conduct a series of science experiments. Some of that research involves the astronauts themselves, who will become their own biomedical subjects to gather in-flight data on the effects the human body experiences beyond low Earth orbit for the first time since Apollo, including investigations into things like radiation exposure and the immune system.

尽管阿耳忒弥斯2号的首要目标是在其首次载人任务中全面检验猎户座飞船的性能，乘组也将开展一系列科学实验。其中部分研究将以宇航员自身为对象，他们将亲自充当生物医学受试者，在飞行途中采集数据，记录人体在飞离近地轨道后的各种生理效应，研究范围涵盖辐射暴露、免疫系统等诸多方面。这是自阿波罗计划以来首次实行。

In addition to humanity's long-awaited return to the moon, Artemis 2 is breaking ground in other historical ways as well. Depending on when it launches, Orion's flight around the moon may take the Artemis 2 crew further from Earth than any previous crewed mission — potentially breaking the record set during Apollo 13.

除了人类期待已久的重返月球之旅，阿耳忒弥斯2号还在其他方面开创历史。根据具体发射窗口的不同，猎户座的绕月飞行有望将乘组带往比以往任何载人任务都更远的距离，甚至有可能打破阿波罗13号保持的纪录。

Koch and Glover will also be making history in their own right, as the first woman and first person of color to fly to the moon.

科赫和格洛弗也将凭借自己的能力创造历史，分别成为第一位飞往月球的女性以及第一位有色人种。

Thus, for all the uncertainty surrounding Artemis' long-term architecture, Artemis 2 represents something far simpler. It will send humans beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in more than half a century, reestablishing a capability the U.S. at one time may have taken for granted.

因此，尽管阿耳忒弥斯的长期架构仍存在诸多变数，阿耳忒弥斯2号本身承载着更为纯粹的意义。它将半个多世纪以来首次将人类送入近地轨道，重新确立美国曾一度视为理所当然的太空能力。

Whether Artemis ultimately fulfills its promise of sustained lunar exploration, or is reshaped by politics, budgets and competition with China, the program's first crewed flight around the moon will mark a definitive turning point. In 2026, humanity isn't just planning to return to lunar space — it's actually going.

无论阿耳忒弥斯是最终实现其持续月球探索的承诺，还是被政治、预算或中美竞争所改写，其首次载人绕月飞行都将成为一个决定性的转折点。2026年，人类不再仅仅是计划重返月球空间，而是真的要返回了。