Goodbye chat

2023: Peter Griffin successfully survives his journey to the Moon, technically making him the first human to return to a celestial body in several decades.

2024: As Peter tries to navigate his way across a desolate world (he doesn't actually need food or water because this is Family Guy, but of course the people in this world don't know that), he eventually stumbles across a rover a couple months later and accidentally destroys it in the process, alerting scientists of his presence on the body. They are extremely confused but later send an unmanned mission to the celestial body in the latter half of the year in an attempt to communicate with Peter, as he is, after all, sapient and a human being. A human orbital mission of the Moon in December of this year allow for a low-resolution image of Peter to be taken, zoomed in from orbit. Scientists are now aware of where exactly he is.

2025: Communications have been established with Peter, who has been gone for over two years now and deeply misses drinking at the Drunken Clam. They ask why he is able to survive up there; he is unable to give an answer. He's also below average intelligence. Later this year, the Artemis III mission kicks off, and surprisingly Peter is within the rough vicinity of the landing spot. In 2025, humans make their first contact with Peter, who is actually in a lot better shape than once originally thought by scientists. Peter is also edited out of the publicized landing footage.

2026: Before the new year, Artemis III leaves, leaving Peter stranded on the Moon once again. NASA informs Peter that perhaps by the next decade he can finally return to Quahog as plans are being radically altered to allow him to return; much like the plot of the book and movie "The Martian". It's for human morale. If they can recover a human from that far away in space, it'll mean that the entire space race is changing. Hardly any of the world is actually aware of this, however, as it's mostly just governments and space agencies monitoring him; there's no need for the world to freak out about this.

2027: It's now the time for Artemis IV, another crewed mission that will once again visit Peter for a short time. During their last visit, the crew gave Peter small objects that would perhaps help him keep his sanity. In this case, they'll being doing it again, but they'll also be giving him a rover that will help him move along the surface faster. They still had no idea why he'd been able to survive this long in such an inhospitable environment.

2028: Another empty year goes by on the Moon. Peter continues to walk around the lifeless surface. He was also given pictures of his family members as additional material to allow him to retain his sanity. He's been gone for five whole years; missing out on not only watching his kids grow up, but also just making out with Lois. Lois was informed that Peter was stuck on the Moon by the government after him being reported missing in the latter half of 2023. Her children, however, were not informed of this, believing that their father was dead.

2029: Artemis V continues to return people to the Moon. This time, the crew informs Peter that they now have an actual estimate for when he may be able to finally return to the Earth: the 2040s. Manufacturing facilities built on the Moon will need to build a rocket or vehicle that is capable of safely returning humans to Earth, and with Peter now involved, this work rapidly begins to speeds up.

2030: Construction of a laboratory on the Moon that will be able to house humans; including Peter. He would finally be able to live somewhere at least a little like home for once after seven entire years. For the first few months, he thought he would be stuck there forever. It'd be like Hell, like purgatory. Lonely, lonely isolation until eventually you become insane. Amazingly he was able to retain sanity for extended periods of time (probably from experience of other Earther hijinks in the past) But when he came across that rover, that changed everything, that changed the entire lunar mission plans.

2031: The laboratory is finished. A year estimate of when he can return is given: 2047, a full sixteen years in the future. Peter ages like normal, so he would be almost 70 years old by then. A manufacturing depot constructed on the moon will begin launching high-velocity vehicles capable of allowing people to safely land back on Earth.

Years later: 2047
Peter is finally returned to home and reunites with his (now-adult) family. He's also honored by NASA and other space agencies.