Artemis II & spaceNEXT: From “We Will Go” to “We Will Build”

In 1962, standing in the Texas heat at Rice University, President John F. Kennedy made a choice that still echoes more than six decades later.

“We choose to go to the Moon.”

Not because it was easy. Not because it was profitable. But because it was hard, and because it would organize the nation’s energies, talents, and ambition around a shared goal.

That speech wasn’t just about space. It was about building capability.

Today, as Artemis II prepares to send astronauts beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in over 50 years, the United States is answering Kennedy's challenge again - not with rhetoric, but with execution. Critically, this commitment has remained bipartisan across multiple administrations. The Trump administration and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman are accelerating that momentum.

Artemis II marks the inflection point - the moment when deep space transitions from aspiration to operation, and when the foundation for a new space economy becomes concrete.

From a Speech to a System

When Kennedy spoke at Rice, the technology to reach the Moon didn't yet exist. What existed was political will, public capital, exceptional talent, and the conviction that pursuing an impossible goal would unlock capabilities far beyond the Moon itself.

That bet paid off, not only in Apollo, but in decades of innovation across aerospace, computing, materials science, microelectronics, communications, and manufacturing.

Artemis is the modern version of that bet. Funded by Congress through NASA, it represents a long-term national commitment to sustained human activity beyond low Earth orbit. But unlike Apollo, Artemis isn't government-only. 

It's designed as a public-private ecosystem from day one. This structure matters because Artemis isn't about going back to the Moon. It's about staying, and building the infrastructure that makes everything after it possible.

What Artemis II Actually Does

Artemis II sends four astronauts around the Moon aboard Orion. A ten-day mission testing life support, navigation, communications, and operational decision-making in deep space with humans on board.

The goal isn't spectacle. It's validation.

This mission proves the systems designed for sustained lunar operations actually work under real conditions. It answers the questions investors need answered: Can these systems support human life reliably? Can missions be executed over long distances and durations? Is the United States committed to this effort for the long term?

And that matters, because in markets, uncertainty is expensive. Capital waits.

Artemis II collapses technical, operational, and strategic risk in a single flight. When those risks drop, investment accelerates.

That's why this mission matters far beyond the crew capsule. It de-risks an entire industry.

Artemis Is a Mission. What Follows Is a Market.

Space missions do not operate in isolation. They depend on continuous systems, not episodic launches.

Sustaining humans in deep space requires:

Technical Infrastructure:

• Logistics to move people, equipment, and materials across vast distances

• In-space assembly, servicing, and repair—not just launch-and-hope

• Power generation and energy storage for extreme environments

• Communications networks that work 240,000 miles from Earth

• Autonomous systems that operate with limited real-time support

Commercial Infrastructure:

• Insurance frameworks calibrated to space operations

• Financing models that blend public and private capital

• Regulatory structures that enable cooperation without slowing innovation

• A workforce trained to operate and maintain systems at scale, not just design them

This is where Artemis stops being just NASA's program.

Artemis confirms the destination. Markets build the economy to reach it.

Why This Moment Matters

Public attention follows launches. Markets are built before them.

Launches capture headlines. But economies are built before liftoff - through partnerships, infrastructure, capital formation, and policy alignment.

As Artemis II approaches, the work of building the space economy is already underway. Leaders from across government, industry, and investment are gathering at spaceNEXT to tackle the practical challenges of what comes next.

That timing is intentional.

Moments like Artemis create rare alignment - between national priorities, international partnerships, commercial readiness, investor interest, and public imagination. If those alignments are not acted on in advance, they dissipate.

spaceNEXT exists to turn alignment into action.

spaceNEXT: Building What Comes Next

spaceNEXT isn't a space conference. It's a working session for the people building the infrastructure that makes sustained space operations economically viable.

It convenes the companies developing in-space capabilities - assembly, servicing, logistics, energy, autonomy - with the investors funding them, the insurers underwriting them, the policymakers enabling them, and the government agencies who will become their customers.

This is where national ambition translates into commercial execution. Where capabilities become companies. Where roadmaps become contracts.

Not to talk about the space economy.

To build it.

Why Greater Washington Will Lead

Kennedy's moonshot succeeded because ambition met execution capacity in the same place.

The same principle applies now.

Greater Washington sits at the convergence of federal decision-making, advanced research, commercial innovation, and global diplomacy. Four NASA Sites. The agencies setting space policy, standards and international partnerships. The world’s most concentrated defense and aerospace apparatus spanning primes to startups. Leading research universities. Capital markets focused on dual-use technologies. Enabling technology stacks. Incredible Talent. And the diplomatic infrastructure to build international partnerships.

This concentration isn't coincidental. It's structural.

The space economy won't be led by isolated cities or single-purpose hubs. It will be built by regions that function as integrated systems, where policy, technology, capital, talent, and international relationships reinforce each other.

Greater Washington already operates that way. It has for decades across defense, intelligence, and technology sectors. The region works in collaboration with other national hubs from Florida to Texas to California.

spaceNEXT makes that explicit for the new space economy - positioning the region not as a participant in the emerging economy, but as the platform where it gets built.

From “We Choose to Go” to “We Choose to Build”

Kennedy’s words mattered because they were followed by action.

Artemis II is that process beginning again. It proves we're going back.

As Artemis II captures global attention, spaceNEXT convenes the stakeholders who will determine what gets built in its wake: the companies, investors, policymakers, and agencies turning launch capability into economic infrastructure.

Artemis shows we're going.

spaceNEXT is where we deliberate on what we build to sustain our stay.