Artemis II: First Crewed Moon Flight Since 1972
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- NASA's Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a lunar fly-around lasting less than 10 days — the first crewed flight to the moon since 1972 — ending with a Pacific splashdown on flight day 10.
- The crew — commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen — includes the first woman, first person of color, and first non-American bound for the moon.
- The Space Launch System rocket stands 322 feet and produces more liftoff thrust than Apollo's Saturn V, but hydrogen leaks during a February fueling practice run pushed the first launch window into April.
- The Orion capsule will use the free-return trajectory made famous by Apollo 13 and on flight day six will sail 5,000 miles beyond the moon, surpassing Apollo 13's distance record for the most remote space travelers.
- Only China has planted landers on the lunar far side, making the crew's planned visual observations during the roughly six-hour flyby uniquely valuable to NASA.
- Orion's heat shield is the same original design that suffered charred, gouged damage during 2022's uncrewed Artemis I test flight, though NASA plans to shorten atmospheric descent to limit heat exposure.
Why it matters: After more than 50 years without a crewed lunar mission, Artemis II puts NASA back in deep space with a crew that redefines who gets to go. Hydrogen-leak delays already pushed the launch from February to April, and the heat shield flying is the original damaged design from 2022's test — making this mission a critical risk-reduction flight before any lunar landing attempt.
