(NewsNation) — There were three space launches Thursday by three different space companies, each on a different mission. They come just weeks from NASA launching its first Artemis mission flight.

NASA’s Artemis mission stands for acceleration, reconnection, turbulence and electrodynamics of the moon’s interaction with the sun.

Former NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez joined “Morning in America” to explain this highly complex mission.

“50 years ago, when we went to the moon, it was strictly for political reasons. Our technology wasn’t as developed as it is now,” Hernandez said. “And today, I believe it’s a good strategy as we move beyond low-Earth orbit, the International Space Station that we established a long duration lunar base, where we can test the technologies needed to be able to one day travel and land on the surface of Mars.”

He said it will be a “testbed” in a sense that humans would be able to live in space, or on another planet, away from our home planet.

Hernandez said the technology 50 years ago wasn’t as advanced as even the phones we have today. Cellphones have more computing power than the whole Apollo system had. Hernandez explains that NASA was limited from a technology perspective.

“This mission is going to serve as an uncrewed mission, but it’s going to serve as a mission to certify for crewed missions. And it’s going to go all the way to the moon,” he said.

Hernandez said that NASA hopes to send crewed mission to the surface of the moon by 2025-2026 if this mission is successful in certifying that it is sustainable for human life away from Earth.