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29 FALL 2021 The Orion is a key piece of the agency's mission to return to the moon, an ambitious plan, aptly named Artemis (after the goddess of the moon and twin sister of the Greek god Apollo), that will dominate the next decade. The effort casts a modern spin on NASA's own mythology and storied past — beginning with a commitment to soon send the first female astronaut and the first astronaut of color to the moon. "The next 10 years will redefine NASA," Gilligan says. "I've seen the space vehicles and satellites and the people creating them all, and it hits you differently when it's real. It's not real for everyone yet, but when we launch astronauts to the moon again, and there's true, live HD video of these folks approaching the moon, it's going to be amazing. People will see NASA, and hopefully themselves, differently." And the moon is just the beginning: Artemis, which includes the construction of a lunar base and orbiting outpost, will serve as a bridge for future missions to Mars. By first successfully sustaining a long-term presence on the moon, NASA can develop the human habitats, tools, and technologies needed to support life in deep space — and embark on a new era of discovery and innovation. The current sense of momentum is undeniable, but it didn't simply emerge from the ether. Though the end of the shuttle program temporarily dimmed the agency's public profile, its work continued. NASA scientists and engineers pursued advanced nuclear rocket technologies capable of propelling next-generation vehicles to Mars, and the complicated instruments and design needed for the James Webb Space Telescope. Meanwhile, the commercial space industry steadily grew, filling a hole the shuttle had left behind. SpaceX, founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk, delivered its first cargo load to the International Space Station in 2012. Later technical innovations by companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin — founded in 2000 by Amazon's Jeff Bezos — began to change the nature of spaceflight with the use of reusable rockets that dramatically lowered launch costs. Suddenly, space tourism seemed less far-fetched. In 2017, then-President Donald Trump issued a directive instructing NASA to return astronauts to the moon and begin building a foundation for a mission to Mars. The deadline for the first landing? 2024. The result is a perfect storm of scientific achievements decades in the making, finally coming to fruition on an accelerated scale. Shinn, who joined NASA in 2011 and became deputy CFO in 2016, describes the current moment as pivotal for both the agency and space exploration. "We're coming up with viable plans to land on the moon and sustain a presence there," he says. "It's not like we're talking about 2040. We're talking about the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface in the very near future." From hunting for life on Mars and plotting a spin around one of Jupiter's moons, to building the world's most powerful rocket to carry astronauts far beyond Earth, space exploration is in the midst of its most exciting stretch in a generation.

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