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WASHINGTON D.C. (WHNT) – Artemis I is scheduled to launch an uncrewed mission at the end of August and NASA is already looking forward to where the Artemis III crew will land on the Moon.

In 2025, NASA plans to send humans, including the first woman and person of color, to the moon for the first time since 1972. That mission will feature a landing site near the Moon’s South Pole.

“Selecting these regions means we are one giant leap closer to returning humans to the Moon for the first time since Apollo,” said Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for the Artemis Campaign Development Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “When we do, it will be unlike any mission that’s come before as astronauts venture into dark areas previously unexplored by humans.”

NASA identified the following 13 candidate regions for a possible landing spot:

  • Faustini Rim A
  • Peak Near Shackleton
  • Connecting Ridge
  • Connecting Ridge Extension
  • de Gerlache Rim 1
  • de Gerlache Rim 2
  • de Gerlache-Kocher Massif
  • Haworth
  • Malapert Massif
  • Leibnitz Beta Plateau
  • Nobile Rim 1
  • Nobile Rim 2
  • Amundsen Rim
A rendering from NASA of the 13 possible landing regions for Artemis III.

Each candidate region is approximately 9.3 by 9.3 miles and an exact landing site will be about a 328-feet radius inside that region.

“Several of the proposed sites within the regions are located among some of the oldest parts of the Moon, and together with the permanently shadowed regions, provide the opportunity to learn about the history of the Moon through previously unstudied lunar materials,” said Sarah Noble, Artemis lunar science lead for NASA’s Planetary Science Division.

An exact site will be chosen for Artemis III after the mission’s target launch dates have been decided.