Artemis II mission is giving NASA insight into how to design a moon base

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told NBC's Lester Holt that lessons from the Artemis II moon mission are informing plans to build d on the lunar surface.

Less than two weeks after NASA’s Artemis II mission, the crew's observations from their lunar flyby are already providing insights into what it might take to build a base on the moon, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Thursday.

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In a live conversation with NBC’s Lester Holt and former NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, Isaacman said that findings from Artemis II are shaping the agency’s plans to build infrastructure for long-term stays on the lunar surface. The panel discussion was part of an event for Common Ground, an NBC News franchise bringing together leaders with different perspectives to focus on solutions to pressing issues.

The Artemis II mission launched April 1, sending NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Victor Glover, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a 10-day trip around Earth and the moon. The crew reached their closest point to the moon on April 6, when they spent seven hours taking photographs and making observations during their flyby. The astronauts were the first ever to see the entire far side of the moon with their own eyes.