Humanity has been fascinated with space travel and colonisation for generations. With astronomical texts dating back to the second century BCE, studying objects beyond our earth has always been a practice which we have implemented since then. The concept of space colonization and living on other planets was first considered by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Tsiolkovsky is known as the "father of astronautics." He developed many foundational theories for rocketry and space travel, including his theory of multistage rockets, which describes the escape velocity from the Earth into orbit. In his writings, Tsiolkovsky envisioned humanity living beyond Earth and was fairly ahead of his time in terms of space exploration. He believed that colonising space would lead to the perfection of the human species, with immortality and a carefree existence and described the potential for human settlements on the Moon and Mars.

The first instance of space exploration was on April 12, 1961, by Yuri Gagarin from the Soviet Union. Gagarin circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometres per hour for a total of 108 minutes. This was later followed by American astronaunt Neil Armstrong on  who became the first human to step foot onto the moons surface on July 21, 1969. Both these missions revolutionized space travel and paved the way for future scientists to do the same. 

Current projects involving space colonization or long-term residence on other planets include the SpaceX Mars Program, NASA’s Artemis Program, and ESA’s Moon Village concept. The SpaceX Mars Program plans to build a crewed base on Mars for a long-term surface presence and hopes that it will eventually flourish into a self-reliant colony. Similar to the belief of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, SpaceX believes that the colonization of Mars is necessary for the long-term survival of the human species. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX intends to send thousands of spacecraft to Mars in order to establish life there. He believes a million inhabitants would be needed to populate it successfully. 

NASA’s Artemis Program aims to land the first woman and person of colour on the Moon and establish a sustainable presence by the end of the decade, along with exploring more of the lunar surface than ever before. Artemis I was the first major mission of the Artemis Program. The launch date for Artemis I was Nov. 16, 2022, the mission lasted 25 days, 10 hours, 53 minutes, and the total distance travelled was 1.4 miIlion miles. It was an uncrewed mission with the purpose of demonstrating Orion’s systems in a spaceflight environment and testing the Space Launch System (SLS). Artemis II is the mission that is scheduled to be the second mission in the Artemis Program. They aim to launch it no earlier than September 2025, it is supposed to last 10 days and have 4 crew members, including a woman, and a person of color. This is the first crewed mission in the Artemis Program to orbit the Moon. Artemis II will verify that, in the real environment of deep space, all of the Orion spacecraft's systems function as intended while carrying crew members. The third mission in the Artemis Program is Artemis III and by far the most complex mission, building on the crewed Artemis II flight test. It aims to land the first astronauts on the lunar surface, specifically near the lunar South Pole. This mission is scheduled to take place exactly a year after Artemis II, September 2026. Lasting about 30 days, this mission plans to further examine the moons surface and conduct scientific experiments, along with testing new technologies and systems required for long-term lunar exploration. Artemis IV will establish the IHM (I-Hab) which is a new module for the Lunar Gateway space station. This mission is planned to launch in September 2028 with 4 crew members. This mission will establish a space station in lunar orbit to support long-term lunar missions and act as a staging point for deep space exploration. 

ESA’s Moon Village concept takes a comprehensive approach to lunar development planning, focusing on the requirement for habitation systems that are made to be flexible space habitats that allow for a range of surface operations. The overall objective is to establish a sustainable lunar base to fuel future space exploration. The ESA has also invited multiple countries and private entities to participate in the construction and operation of the Moon Village. This project will focus on utilizing lunar resources for sustainability and establishing a sustainable presence laying the groundwork for future space exploration projects globally. 

Overall, these projects and initiatives are pushing the boundaries of human capability and understanding, with the goal of extending humanity's presence beyond Earth. Projects similar to the ones above not only ensure human presence on foreign planets in the near future, but also grant us with more resources, enhancing our knowledge further. This research and exploration is essential in order to gain new perspectives on our solar system, and eventually go beyond it.