From Apollo to Artemis: Iceland’s Pivotal Role in NASA’s Moon Training Missions

For decades, Iceland has been a quiet yet essential backdrop for NASA’s astronaut training missions. As the United States space agency prepares for a new chapter of lunar exploration under the Artemis program, the Arctic island nation continues to play a key role, just as it did during the Apollo missions. But what makes Iceland so uniquely suited to help astronauts prepare for the Moon?

NASA astronauts conduct geological studies in Iceland's Vatnajökull National Park, whose volcanic features mirror those on the Moon, as part of their Artemis II training mission. Photo: Euronews

A Lunar-like Landscape: Training for Artemis II

Earlier this summer, six prospective astronauts from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) trekked through Vatnajökull National Park, a landscape that could easily be mistaken for the Moon itself. Covered in black and grey volcanic rock and void of vegetation, the park offers an ideal environment for astronauts to practice their navigation skills, collect geological samples, and prepare for lunar missions.

“It’s like living in space,” says Helga Hvanndal Björnsdóttir, the park's chief ranger. Vatnajökull National Park, which covers 15% of Iceland’s landmass, contains craters, basalt rock, and breccia, similar to what astronauts expect to find on the Moon.

NASA’s Artemis II crew, scheduled to orbit the Moon in 2025, spent several weeks in Iceland earlier this year, practicing under harsh conditions. Their training site is only accessible for three months each year due to snow, so the astronauts are just one part of the packed research season in this isolated region.

Related: Ideal Lunar Base Discovered in Underground Moon Cave

A Long History of Astronaut Training in Iceland

This collaboration between Iceland and NASA is far from new. Iceland first became a crucial training ground during the Apollo missions of the 1960s. Many of the astronauts, initially uninterested in geology classes, found Iceland's volcanic landscape far more engaging. According to Orlygur Hnefill Örlygsson, founder of Iceland’s Exploration Museum, NASA scientists chose the island for its similarities to the Moon, bringing over 30 astronauts for field trips in 1965 and 1967.

In Iceland, the astronauts learned to identify the chemical composition of rocks and practiced sampling techniques that were critical to the Apollo missions. Those same techniques, such as using rock hammers and shovels, are still employed today for the Artemis program.

Artemis II: A Giant Leap Towards Returning to the Moon

The recent Artemis II mission marks NASA’s next big step toward returning humans to the Moon. Although this mission won’t see astronauts landing on the lunar surface, it will send a crew 7,400 kilometers beyond the far side of the Moon in NASA’s new spacecraft, Orion.

The mission, which will pave the way for landing the first woman, person of color, and international astronaut on the Moon, is set for September 2025. The subsequent Artemis III mission will aim for a 2026 landing near the lunar South Pole.

Future Moon Research and Iceland’s Key Role

Though Artemis II astronauts won’t land on the Moon, their training in Iceland is crucial for studying lunar craters and gathering scientific data. The Moon, much like Earth, has several layers of crust and mantle, and astronauts need to be well-prepared to analyze these features.

By continuing to offer its unique landscape as a training ground, Iceland remains a vital part of NASA’s lunar exploration journey—from Apollo to Artemis and beyond.

Source: Euronews