Artemis II has launched, NASA’s mission that will take four astronauts around the Moon after more than 50 years since the Apollo program.
Liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on the night between the 1st and 2nd at 00:35 Italian time, for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, built by Boeing, with the Orion spacecraft developed by Lockheed Martin on top, kicking off the first crewed mission around the Earth’s satellite in over 50 years. “Artemis II will pave the way for future lunar landings, as well as the next big step: astronauts on Mars,” commented the American space agency on the launch.
The crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. They will be the first humans – including the first woman and a non-American – to venture beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo missions.
This 10-day mission will not actually touch the Moon. Instead, the crew will fly around it, potentially traveling farther from Earth than any human before them, testing the Orion spacecraft’s life support, navigation, and communication systems in deep space. Over the next nine days, the Artemis II astronauts will venture deeper into space than any Apollo mission, orbiting the far side of the Moon and returning to Earth. The program’s second mission will serve as a crucial springboard for a crewed lunar landing, currently planned for 2028.
All the details.
LAUNCH SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED ON APRIL 2
The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center at 6:35 p.m. local time (00:35 Italian time on April 2) for the Artemis II mission. After a normal ascent, the SLS upper stage and the Orion capsule separated from the core stage about eight minutes later, entering a low Earth transfer orbit.
About 16 minutes later, Orion’s solar panels deployed, completing a critical configuration phase. These panels provide power to all Orion systems, from propulsion to life support.
MISSION OBJECTIVES
About 3 hours and 30 minutes after launch, Orion will separate from the rocket’s upper stage (ICPS). The four astronauts will manually maneuver the Orion capsule around the spent upper stage (ICPS) and test the spacecraft’s systems. The crew will take about four days to reach the vicinity of the Moon, where it will be behind the satellite’s far side, a perspective never seen from Earth. The lunar surface flyby is scheduled for April 6.
NASA expects Orion to exit the Moon’s sphere of influence and begin its return trajectory on the seventh day of flight. The spacecraft will perform a couple of additional burns to correct its trajectory on the ninth and tenth days of flight, before the crew capsule separates from the service module, culminating in a splashdown off the coast of San Diego, California, on the evening of April 10.
This second mission will demonstrate that Orion’s systems are ready to support astronauts on long-duration missions and will allow the crew to practice essential operations for the success of the next mission.
THE ARTEMIS PROGRAM
With Artemis, named after Apollo’s twin goddess, NASA aims to maintain a long-term presence on the Moon. Last week, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, outlined a gradual $20 billion plan to build a lunar base, starting with occasional human missions to develop infrastructure and aiming over time for a stable presence, while abandoning the Lunar Gateway orbital station project.
“We will send them farther into space than any human has ever gone before, 250,000 miles away,” Isaacman said minutes before launch. “And it will serve as a base for subsequent missions.”
THE TIMELINE
The launch of Artemis II comes almost exactly three years after NASA’s crew selection announcement. When the agency announced the crew in April 2023, Artemis II’s launch was scheduled for late 2024, but some issues with the Orion spacecraft, particularly with the heat shield, postponed the launch to early 2026.
The results will influence how NASA flies subsequent missions. Last February, NASA postponed astronauts’ return to the Moon: Artemis III will no longer perform a lunar landing in 2027 but will be a demonstration mission in low Earth orbit that sends a crew to dock with one of the lunar modules under construction by SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, and Blue Origin, led by Jeff Bezos. The first lunar landing is now expected with Artemis IV in 2028. The decision, announced by Administrator Jared Isaacman, follows technical problems encountered during Artemis II mission tests and also foresees a higher launch frequency and a more standardized SLS rocket configuration to reduce risks.
It has been a long time since astronauts last flew to the Moon, but Artemis II will make history in many other ways as well.
It will be the first crewed mission to leave low Earth orbit since Apollo 17. This achievement will mark the beginning of a new era in human deep space exploration, taking astronauts farther from Earth than anyone else has in over half a century.
REACHING THE MOON BEFORE BEIJING
Finally, the launch of Artemis II fits into a renewed strategic competition in space. It was also celebrated by Donald Trump, who on Truth Social claimed American leadership, emphasizing how the United States “is winning in space, on Earth, and everywhere in between” and how the mission represents America’s return to the Moon and beyond. Words that recall the Apollo program era, when the space race was dominated by the rivalry with the Soviet Union.
Today Washington identifies China as its main rival, which in recent years has accelerated its space program, sending robots and rovers to the lunar surface and declaring the goal of sending astronauts by 2030. In this new chapter of the space race, returning to the Moon is not just a matter of symbolic prestige but also of strategic positioning: more than planting a flag, what matters is where it is planted, especially in areas richest in resources, destined to become key assets for the future lunar economy.
