The last human journey to the Moon was in 1972, as part of the historic Apollo program, which culminated in Neil Armstrong's famous “small step for man.” More than half a century later, NASA is preparing to resume lunar exploration with the Artemis II mission, which seeks to lay the groundwork for more ambitious future landing missions.
Artemis II will be the first crewed flight test of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft around the Moon to verify the current capabilities of humans to explore deep space and pave the way for long-term exploration and science on the lunar surface.
The Artemis II crew will consist of four astronauts: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch (all three from NASA), and Specialist Jeremy Hansen, from the Canadian Space Agency. This mission stands out as the first lunar trip in history with a woman and a person of color aboard, breaking the precedent set by the Apollo program, which only included white American men.
The first launch window for the Artemis flight will open on Friday, February 6, and close on Monday, February 9, depending on technical and meteorological factors. The 10-day journey will include a flight around the far side of the Moon. The European-made Orion spacecraft will use the gravity between Earth and the Moon to begin its return, concluding with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego.
