Moon fever hits DC as Artemis 2 rocket 'candle' lights up Washington Monument just 1 month before launch (photos)

The U.S. capital was just moonstruck — or at least, the Washington Monument was.

An image of NASA's iconic Saturn V rocket was projected onto the monument at night between Dec. 31 and Jan. 5. That latter date is just a month out from the possible launch of the Artemis 2 round-the-moon mission with four astronauts, which is scheduled to lift off as soon as Feb. 6.

Artemis 2 will mark the crewed debut of NASA's huge Space Launch System rocket, and it will be first mission to send people to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

"Freedom 250 is ringing in the New Year by illuminating the story of America, including reaching for the stars, and highlighting our achievements in space, on the Washington Monument," NASA officials wrote about the light show, which featured other imagery as well, on X on Dec. 31.

Freedom 250 is the organization responsible for marking the 250th anniversary of the approval of the Declaration of Independence, an event popularly celebrated as the beginning of the United States. The declaration, which passed the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, stated that 13 British colonies in North America would separate from Great Britain and form a United States of America with independent powers of commerce and state, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Artemis 2 includes NASA commander Reid Wiseman, NASA pilot Victor Glover (who will become the first Black person to leave low Earth orbit), NASA mission specialist Christina Koch (the first woman to do the same) and Canadian Space Agency mission specialist Jeremy Hansen (the first non-American). It follows on from Artemis 1, an uncrewed flight to lunar orbit in late 2022 that tested the SLS as well as the Orion spacecraft that the astronauts will pilot on Artemis 2.

Provided Artemis 2's 10-day mission goes as planned, the follow-up will be the first crewed moon landing in more than five decades with Artemis 3, later in the 2020s. NASA is positioning Artemis as part of a larger push for moon settlement, including the establishment of long-term bases, resource mining and the use of nuclear reactors. From there, the agency hopes to eventually land astronauts on Mars.

NASA is implementing the Artemis program with the help of a number of international and private-industry partners. For example, Hansen's seat on Artemis 2 came principally due to his nation's planned provision of the Canadarm3 robotic arm for the Gateway lunar space station.

The United States is also spearheading an initiative called the Artemis Accords, which seeks to establish a set of norms for safe, sustainable and peaceful space exploration. More than 50 other nations have signed the accords to date.

The New Year's Eve appearance of the Saturn V wasn't its first projection onto the monument. Back in 2019, when NASA was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 and the first-ever human moon landing, the rocket's image graced one of the sides of the monument courtesy of a Smithsonian Institution celebration, according to Space.com partner site collectSPACE. The 2025 showing of the rocket was the first to put the Saturn V on all sides of the monument, however.