Artemis II marks NASA’s first crewed lunar flight since Apollo 17 (1972), launching aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. The mission includes astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover (first Black astronaut to the Moon), Christina Koch (first woman) and Canadian Jeremy Hansen (first non-American).
The 10-day mission will perform a lunar flyby (without landing) to test spacecraft systems, manual piloting, and lunar gravity capture—key steps toward future crewed Moon landings.
The crew will surpass Apollo 13’s distance record (248,655 miles from Earth) and test deep-space radiation effects, essential for future Mars missions.
Artemis II paves the way for Artemis III (2027, lunar lander tests) and Artemis IV (2028, first crewed Moon landing since 1972), aiming for a sustainable lunar presence by 2035.
Orion will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at 30 times the speed of sound, splashing down off San Diego on April 10, where Navy teams will retrieve the crew.
For the first time in over half a century, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has launched astronauts toward the Moon, reigniting humanity’s ambitions for deep-space exploration. The Artemis II mission, carrying a crew of four, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, April 1, marking the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.
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