NASA to Unveil Next Step in Artemis Moon Plan Today: Watch It Live - Space.com

NASA wants to land humans on the moon in just five years — and the agency is ready to announce the first company that will help the Artemis program build a lunar outpost for those astronauts.

That company will build the power and propulsion element, a vital component of the spacecraft and one that gives it mobility. Administrator Jim Bridenstine will be announcing the program's first commercial partner today (May 23) at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT), according to NASA. The announcement will be followed by a media call at 2:45 p.m. EDT (1845 GMT). You can watch both events live on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV, or directly through the agency's website.

According to a NASA statement about the events, the media call will include Bill Gerstenmaier, who leads NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate; Michele Gates, director for the power and propulsion element; Dan Harman, who manages the Gateway program at NASA's Johnson Space Center; and Mike Barrett, project manager for the power and propulsion element.

NASA has already announced that the segment will be a solar electric propulsion unit. Such a unit would be more maneuverable around the moon and could be adapted for a Mars journey as well, according to NASA.

The agency is hoping to launch the power and propulsion element in late 2022, just over three years away, and has said that unit would ride on a commercial rocket and be the first major component of the so-called Gateway, a station orbiting the moon and allowing astronauts to easily access all regions of the surface.

Gateway itself has been in NASA's moon plans for a while, but the project gained urgency in March, when Vice President Mike Pence announced that President Donald Trump wanted to speed up the timeline for returning humans to the moon, now targeting 2024 for the first crewed landing.

Earlier this month, the effort was dubbed the Artemis program, a nod to Apollo's twin sister in Greek mythology.

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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