On 12 September 1962, John F. Kennedy famously proclaimed space to be the “new frontier.” JFK did not actually care that much about space—he launched the Moon race in May 1961 because he wanted to conduct a high-profile exercise that would enable him to beat the Soviet Union and distract public attention from the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion that had taken place a few weeks earlier. The “new frontier” rhetoric only emerged later. Then JFK was assassinated, and his successors lost the plot. After a few “flags and footprints” Moon missions, we turned our back on the new frontier, retreating to low Earth orbit for over fifty years. Until last week.

Artemis I was a highly successful mission and, as far as I can judge so far, Artemis II seems to have done just as well. The most substantial engineering challenge on the nine-day trip around the Moon was a recalcitrant toilet—embarrassing, perhaps, but not a threat to mission success. On all the critical milestones—from launch to trans-lunar injection to the precisely calculated free-return trajectory and the excruciatingly accurate re-entry angle—Artemis II hit its marks.

Of course, it hit them a lot later than expected. The Artemis program was based on the Constellation program, initiated in 2005 with a goal of landing humans on the Moon by 2020. Decades of uncertainty, program changes, and political tinkering have reshaped the program into five missions of which this is only the second, years over schedule and billions of dollars over budget. In some ways, these heritage launch and capsule systems were already obsolete before the missions began, as Peter Hague has documented elsewhere in this magazine. A new phase will be necessary soon. So, how will Artemis II and its successors enable the return to the new frontier?

The New Moon Race: Artemis II and China’s Lunar Ambitions

The race is on to build a base for permanent human habitation on the Moon.

QuillettePeter Hague

In Democracy in America (1835–40), Alexis de Tocqueville emphasises the role of the western frontier in shaping American society, character, and attitudes. The frontier represented Americans’ fixation on material progress and self-improvement. Immigrants and native-born alike went west, turning wild lands, swamps, and forests into productive fields and factories. (Of course, these “empty” lands were often already occupied by Native Americans, but they were ignored.)

The frontier rewarded ambitious risk-takers; the opportunities it provided encouraged decades of migration from the old countries: “The emigrant from Europe therefore always lands in a half-full country… his son goes to seek a fortune in an empty country, and he becomes a rich property owner,” writes de Tocqueville. Upward mobility became a hallmark of the American character.

Space shares many of the characteristics of the American West: it is physically dangerous and economically costly to get there. But, even before the railroads were built, the western frontier could be crossed by anyone with the grit and determination to do so—on a flatboat, on horseback, or even on foot. The difficulties of getting there acted as a filter for individuals with high agency, ambition, and tolerance for risk.