The Human Mission Plan

NASA's Artemis program aims to return humans to the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars. The Moon serves as a testbed for life-support systems, habitats, and in-situ resource utilization — extracting water and oxygen from local materials. The skills developed on the Moon transfer directly to Mars operations.

A human Mars mission would likely require a crew of 4 to 6 astronauts on a journey lasting 2 to 3 years total, including many months on the surface while the crew waits for the planets to realign for the return trip.