For the first time in over half a century, astronauts are again on their way past the moon. NASA’s Artemis II crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch from NASA, and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency—lifted off from Kennedy Space Center aboard an Orion capsule riding the SLS rocket. The mission is a roughly 10-day, 230,000-mile crewed test flight intended to exercise Orion’s systems and collect scientific and operational data for future lunar missions.
Flight path and mission plan
Artemis II follows a free-return trajectory: the spacecraft will arc out past the moon while remaining primarily under Earth’s gravitational influence, then fall back toward Earth for a Pacific Ocean splashdown. That path reduces the fuel required and lowers some mission risks compared with entering lunar orbit. About a day after launch Orion will perform a translunar injection burn to set the crew on course. The flyby will take the spacecraft to roughly 5,000 miles above the lunar surface—much higher than Apollo orbital altitudes—giving the crew a wide-angle view of the lunar far side.
Verifying spacecraft performance
Soon after separating from the SLS upper stage in high Earth orbit, the crew conducted proximity and handling checks, taking manual control to validate how Orion behaves in space. Those tests assess control responsiveness, thruster feedback and handling characteristics that will be crucial for future docking with a lunar lander. Pilot Victor Glover reported that the vehicle “flies very nicely,” and the crew’s hands-on checks supply human judgment to complement automated telemetry.
Crew health and science experiments
The astronauts themselves are part of the science: researchers will study physiological effects of deep-space travel and increased radiation exposure. Biological samples and cultured cells mounted on tiny chips around the capsule will record how radiation and the deep-space environment affect living tissue. While flying over regions no human has seen up close, the crew—trained by geologists—will also take photos and note surface features to help scientists on Earth better understand the far side and to inform planning for potential landing sites.
CubeSats and secondary payloads
Artemis II also carries several CubeSats built by teams in Germany, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Argentina. These small satellites will deploy into high-Earth orbits to study space radiation effects on hardware, monitor space weather, and demonstrate components and techniques that could be used on future lunar missions.
Reentry and recovery
On the return leg Orion will hit the atmosphere at about 25,000 mph, encountering peak heating near 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The capsule’s heat shield protects the crew; following unexpected heat-shield damage observed during the 2022 uncrewed test, NASA adjusted reentry plans to use a steeper trajectory and reduce exposure time. After atmospheric entry, eight parachutes will slow the vehicle for a splashdown off the California coast, and airbags will help it land upright for recovery by the shipboard team.
Why this mission matters
Artemis II is a critical validation flight on the path to more regular lunar missions and a sustainable human presence on the moon. It will confirm life-support, navigation, and crew procedures needed for future Artemis missions and a planned lunar base. As mission specialist Christina Koch put it, the goal is for this flight to help make the moon a destination that is accessible to many more people in the future.