German astronaut: Artemis II launches 2nd wave of space exploration

The success of NASA's Artemis II mission, which splashed down off the southern California coast on Friday, launches a new era of space research, German astronaut Alexander Gerst told Deutschlandfunk radio on Saturday.

Gerst, 49, said the aim now is to have a permanent presence on the moon's surface with scientists. Gerst is a European Space Agency astronaut and geophysicist who has been on several space missions.

"This is no longer about planting flags like in the first wave," he said. The second wave of moon exploration is in order to explore space, he said.

US astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Jeremy Hansen landed as planned in the Pacific near San Diego after spending around 10 days in space.

"The most important result here is that the spacecraft works," Gerst said. "It was not at all certain beforehand that this would work with people."

He said it would first take "a few test missions" before people could venture out to the moon's surface.

"Planetary scientists tell us very clearly... if you really want to explore a planet or an object like the moon, then you also have to go there with people."

A remotely controlled vehicle could only cover a relatively small area and take only a few samples, he argued.

The United States remains the only country to have put humans on the moon, with 12 astronauts walking on its surface during the Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972.

The Artemis mission aims to return humans to the moon and establish a US base there, paving the way for missions to Mars, amid intensifying global competition for military, commercial and scientific advantage in space.