Slowed by four main parachutes in predawn darkness, the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft descended and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, Jan. 15, wrapping up NASA's first-ever astronaut medical evacuation from the International Space Station.

While Artemis II won't touch down on the lunar terrain - NASA targets putting astronauts on the surface by 2030, though China competes to arrive first - it will journey 6,400 miles beyond the Moon's far side: the most distant humans have ever ventured into the cosmos.

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I cover the future of astronautics and space technologies. That visibility naturally invites a follow-on question: what comes next? The systems flying today are the result of years (or ...