NASA has shared some big news about humanity’s return to the Moon. They are getting ready for the next big step. This mission, called Artemis II, will be the first time people fly under the Artemis program.
The space agency aims for April 2026 for this flight. However, they are working hard to launch it even sooner, perhaps in February of that year. Four astronauts will make this trip. They won’t land on the Moon, but they will fly around it.
This journey is important for testing purposes. It will make sure all the spacecraft’s systems work perfectly. This check-up needs to happen before Artemis III. That later mission is set for 2027 and will mark the actual return of humans to the lunar surface.
Artemis II will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will spend about ten days in space. When their journey is complete, they will splash down in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Before these crewed flights, NASA sent Artemis I into space. That mission launched in 2022. It was uncrewed, meaning no people were on board. Its main job was to test the performance of the powerful SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft.