NASA’s 2024 Moon Mission : Artemis

Cool missions need cool names, and NASA’s  new plan to establish a permanent lunar presence and put an American on the Moon again now has one: Artemis. It’s a nod both to Apollo, the 50th anniversary of the culmination of which is this year, and to the fact that the program is likely to send the first woman to the Moon.

Artemis, in Greek religion, the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and vegetation, the moon and of chastity and childbirth. Was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. Among the rural populace, Artemis was the favourite goddess. Her character and function varied greatly from place to place, but, apparently, behind all forms lay the goddess of wild nature, who danced, usually accompanied by nymphs, in mountains, forests, and marshes. Artemis embodied the sportsman’s ideal, so besides killing game she also protected it, especially the young. This was the Homeric significance of the title Mistress of Animals.

In one legend, Artemis was born one day before her brother Apollo. Her mother gave birth to her on the island of Ortygia, then, almost immediately after her birth, she helped her mother to cross the straits over to Delos, where she then delivered Apollo. This was the beginning of her role as guardian of young children and patron of women in childbirth. Being a goddess of contradictions, she was the protectors of women in labor, but it was said that the arrows of Artemis brought them sudden death while giving birth.

Artemis now, personifies the path of the first woman to the Moon as the Apollo program put the first men on the lunar surface in the 1960 and 70s.

Note: The official names of planets and their moons are governed by an organization called the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The IAU was established in 1919. Its mission is "to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects through international cooperation". Its individual members are professional astronomers from all over the World. The IAU is the internationally recognized authority for assigning names to celestial bodies and any surface features on them. The IAU recognizes that astronomy is an old science and many of its names come from long-standing traditions and/or are founded in history. Most of the objects in our solar system received names long ago based on Greek mythology.