Is Elon Musk Involved With Artemis? How SpaceX Fits Into NASA’s Moon Mission

Artemis II launched on April 1 from the Kennedy Space Center, sending four astronauts aboard Orion on a 10-day test flight around the Moon and back. The mission is the first crewed Artemis flight and the first crewed lunar flyby in five decades.

Some folks are watching with bated breath, while others have questions. Netizens want to know if Elon Musk is involved with Artemis.

Elon is involved with Artemis, but not in the way people might assume. His connection runs through SpaceX, not through NASA leadership. NASA selected SpaceX in 2021 to develop the first Human Landing System for Artemis. That system serves as the lunar lander that will carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and back.

NASA later directed SpaceX to evolve that lander for Artemis IV, and in 2023 the agency chose Blue Origin as a second lunar-lander provider for Artemis V. Essentially, SpaceX is a contractor on a major part of the campaign, but NASA is still the one calling the shots.

Artemis is NASA’s Moon-to-Mars campaign. NASA says it is leading the Artemis missions, while its Mission Control teams at Johnson Space Center in Houston support flight operations and Kennedy handles the launch infrastructure and ground systems. The backbone of the current mission is NASA hardware — the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. NASA says SLS is the only rocket that can send Orion, astronauts, and cargo directly to the Moon in a single launch, and Orion is the spacecraft carrying and sustaining the crew on these missions.

“Artemis II is a test flight, and the test has just begun. The team that built this vehicle, repaired it, and prepared it for flight has given our crew the machine they need to go prove what it can do,” said NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya. “Over the next 10 days, Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy will put Orion through its paces so the crews who follow them can go to the Moon’s surface with confidence.”

Artemis is a government-led exploration campaign with a full roadmap back to the Moon. It includes science goals, international partners, and multiple systems working together. SpaceX is a private aerospace company with its own rockets and spacecraft.

Outside Artemis, SpaceX already flies astronaut missions to the International Space Station for NASA through the Commercial Crew Program. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 is an active mission, and NASA says Crew-12 is the 12th crew-rotation mission of SpaceX’s human transportation system to the station. SpaceX is also developing Starship as a Moon-and-Mars vehicle. That project extends beyond Artemis.

Artemis has also recently changed shape. In March, NASA said it added a new Artemis III demonstration mission in low Earth orbit for 2027 to test one or both commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin. NASA now says it is targeting the first Artemis lunar landing on Artemis IV in early 2028, with Artemis V also planned for 2028.