NASA’s Artemis II Returns Humans to Exploration Beyond Earth

By Bob Granath

As NASA’s Moon rocket thundered into the Space Coast sky, it heralded a renewed era of human exploration. The agency’s Artemis II mission begins an effort to learn how to live and work on another world in preparation for pioneering missions to Mars. During the 10-day flight, the four-person crew will circle around the Earth’s neighbor, traveling farther away than any astronauts during the Apollo Program of the 1960s and 1970s.

At 6:35 p.m. EDT, April 1, 2026, a Space Launch System rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39B at the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with agency astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen strapped into their Orion spacecraft. Their goal is to test spacecraft systems, ensuring all operates as designed in the deep space environment between Earth and the Moon.

Artemis II follows the uncrewed Artemis I flight test in November and December 2022. The crew will practice operations to pave the way for a future Artemis crew to land on the lunar surface by 2028.

“Artemis II is a momentous step forward for human spaceflight,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said recently. He spoke during a news media briefing as the Space Launch System rocket rolled out of Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building on its way to the launch pad on Jan. 17, 2026. “This historic mission will … deliver the insights needed for us to return to (landing on) the Moon.”

At the same time, Isaacman also praised Kennedy’s launch director, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, and her launch team at the Florida spaceport for their efforts preparing for the upcoming lunar mission.

“It’s awe inspiring,” he said. “Leading her team, the Ground Systems folks have hit every single milestone to get to where we are.”

Blackwell-Thompson’s launch team conducted a 49-hour countdown “wet dress rehearsal” beginning on Jan. 31. It is called “wet” as it included successfully loading cryogenic liquid hydrogen and oxygen into the Space Launch System rocket core stage and interim cryogenic propulsion stage, or ICPS, upper stage on Feb. 2.

Engineers worked through several challenges during the test, meeting many of the planned objectives. Following the operation, technicians replaced two seals in an area where launch controllers determined there was higher than allowable hydrogen gas concentrations between ground support equipment and the Space Launch System core stage.

A second rehearsal, or simulation, took place on Feb. 19, clearing the way for the final countdown and launch. A day after the second countdown simulation, Blackwell-Thompson stated that the new seals were “rock solid.”

“We had a very successful day,” she said. “I’m proud of this (launch) team and all that they accomplished,”

A few days after the second countdown simulations, engineers identified a problem that prevented helium from flowing to the rocket’s upper stage. The vehicle rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building where the issue was repaired.

During that time, technicians and engineers replaced and retested a seal on the core stage liquid oxygen feed line. Additionally, batteries on the upper stage, core stage and solid rocket boosters were replaced, along with refreshing several systems on the rocket. The Artemis II vehicle returned to the launch pad on March 19.

Back to the Future

The first astronauts to venture beyond Earth orbit were the Apollo 8 crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders in December 1968. Following their return, then acting NASA administrator, Dr. Thomas Paine, described the mission as “a true pioneering effort.”

“We are at the onset of a program of space flight that will extend through many generations,” he said. “We’re looking forward to the days we will be manning space stations, conducting lunar explorations and blazing trails out to the planets.”

Isaacman referenced that goal set more than 50 years ago, opening the way for achievements of the current mission.

“Artemis II represents progress toward establishing a lasting lunar presence and sending Americans to Mars,” he said. “I could not be more impressed by our NASA team and the Artemis II crew.”

During NASA’s Curious Universe podcast on Jan. 27, 2026, Wiseman also expressed faith in his crew and in Orion.

“When you get inside this spacecraft, you start to realize the depth of thought that has gone into everything,” he said. “Every lesson that has ever been learned in human spaceflight has been rolled into Orion.”

“This is going to be the first time that humans have ridden inside that capsule to check out everything on board,” Koch said during the podcast. “The Artemis II mission, at its heart, is a test mission of the Orion space capsule.”

After reaching orbit, the Space Launch System’s core stage will separate from the interim cryogenic propulsion stage, or ICPS, upper stage and Orion. The crew will circle Earth twice during a 23-hour checkout of Orion’s systems. When Orion reaches its highest point in an elliptical orbit, the ICPS upper stage will fire its engine to raise its lowest point to an altitude of 100 miles. Next, the ICPS stage will fire about an hour later at the low point of its orbit to raise Orion to a high Earth orbit of about 44,525 miles. By comparison, the International Space Station’s circular orbit is about 250 miles above Earth.

Once the ICPS separates from Orion, the crew plans to confirm that they can manually maneuver their spacecraft around the upper stage. This will help ensure future crews can rendezvous with another space vehicle.

Early on Artemis II’s second day in space, Orion’s main service module engine will propel the spacecraft on a “free-return” trajectory toward the Moon. The translunar injection burn will send Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen 230,000 miles from Earth to loop around the Moon. This route, together with the gravity of the Moon, will send the crew back to Earth without another major engine firing.

Moon Bound Crew

Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York earning a bachelor’s degree in computer and systems engineering in 1997. Following graduation, he was commissioned through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and reported to Pensacola, Florida, for flight training becoming a Naval aviator in 1999.

With the U.S. Navy, Wiseman made two deployments to the Middle East, supporting Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. He was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, during his second deployment in 2003. Three years later, he was awarded a master’s in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

While assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 103 at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, Wiseman was selected as a NASA astronaut. As a member of the Soyuz TMA-13M crew, he launched to the International Space Station in 2014. During the 165-day mission, he and his crewmates completed more than 300 scientific experiments.

Wiseman pointed out that, during the Artemis II mission, astronauts will achieve a significant milestone.

“This is the first time we’re going to send humans to the Moon and, at the same time, have humans in low earth orbit,” he said. “That is awesome.”

Victor Glover is pilot of Artemis II. Born in Pomona, California, he attended California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispowhere he earned a bachelor’s degree in general engineering in 1999. He was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy that year and went into flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, becoming a Naval aviator in 2001. He went on to fly the F/A-18C Hornet with Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron-101 at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego.

After deployment aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Glover was selected to attend the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in June 2006. Following graduation the next year, he served as a test pilot based out of Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California. At the time of his selection as a NASA astronaut in 2013, he was assigned to the personal staff of U.S. Sen, John McCain of Arizona as a legislative fellow, a temporary staff aide.

Glover served as pilot on Crew-1, the first operational flight of the SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station. During the 167-day mission, he served as flight engineer for Expedition 64/65. During that mission, Glover expressed appreciation for the opportunity.

“It truly is a privilege to work and to live here (in space), and to be able to do both makes this just a really unique experience,” he said. “It was really an honor to become a part of an expedition and see what it’s like to fly (aboard) the International Space Station.”

For Glover, his goal for Artemis II is personal.

“I want to use the abilities that God has given me to do my job well and support my crewmates and mission and NASA,” he said.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch was raised in Jacksonville, North Carolina dreaming of becoming an astronaut. Between 1992 and 1996, she attended Space Camp five times at the Marshall Space Flight Center facility in Huntsville, Alabama. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and physics, as well as a master’s in electrical engineering from North Carolina State University.

Prior to selection as an astronaut, Koch performed advanced studies working in the space science instrument development and remote scientific engineering fields in the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

The year before being selected as an astronaut in 2013, Koch worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as a field engineer at NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division Baseline Observatory in Barrow, Alaska, and later that year, she served as station chief for the observatory in American Samoa.

Koch was launched to the space station in 2019 aboard the Soyuz MS-12 during Expeditions 59, 60 and 61. On Jan. 8, 2020, she became the first woman from any nation to pass the milestone of 300 days on a single spaceflight. Altogether, she spent a total of 328 days in space and participated in the first all-female spacewalk with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir.

Having participated in research trips to remote areas, Koch compared the Artemis II mission to a trip in a recreational vehicle.

“Basically, Orion is kind of like our RV, you could say, on these deep space missions,” she said. “We’ll do different things to test out the vehicle for a few days. We’ll come very close to the Moon, go around it, and spend a few days coming home to Earth.”

Jeremy Hansen also is serving as a mission specialist during Artemis II, his first trip into space. Born in London, Ontario, Canada, he was raised on a farm near the village of Ailsa Craig. He attended the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in space science in 1999. Hansen later was awarded a master’s in physics at the Royal Military College in 2000, focusing on the wide field of view satellite tracking.

In 2014, NASA announced that Hansen would serve as an aquanaut aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory during the NEEMO 19 undersea mission that lasted seven days. NEEMO, or NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, is a test in which groups of astronauts, engineers and scientists live in an underwater research laboratory for up to three weeks. The program is designed to prepare for future long-term space exploration missions. Prior to his selection as one of Canada’s astronauts, Hansen was an officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, piloting the CF-18 fighter jet.

“Being part of the Artemis II crew is both exciting and humbling,” he said. “I’m excited to leverage my experience, training and knowledge to take on this challenging mission on behalf of Canada.”

Free Ride Home

The Artemis II crew’s flight path will take them beyond the distance traveled by Apollo astronauts. They will fly approximately 4,600 miles beyond the far side of the Moon. The astronauts will continue to observe the lunar surface from a better vantage point than human eyes have seen in more than 50 years. From this perspective, they will see both the Moon and the Earth. The four astronauts will view the Moon in the foreground, looking like a basketball held at arm’s length. Their home planet will be nearly 250,000 miles away.

During the Artemis II journey around the Moon, the Orion spacecraft will safeguard the astronauts from some extreme conditions of deep space. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor of the crew module. The European Space Agency built the service module, supplying the propulsion, power and life support systems.

After passing around the far side of the Moon, Wiseman, Glover, Koch and Hansen will begin their journey home without propulsion from their main engine. Their Orion spacecraft will return using their fuel-efficient trajectory taking advantage of the lunar gravity. This ensures Orion will be “pulled” back by Earth’s gravitational field on the “free-return” trajectory.

On the last day of the mission, Orion will plunge through the Earth’s atmosphere traveling at about 25,000 miles an hour. Wiseman notes that at this point “you can feel how sturdy Orion is.” The spacecraft’s heat shield will provide protection from re-entry heating with temperatures rising to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, almost as hot as the temperature of the Sun. Wiseman and his crewmates will be comfortably right around normal room temperature inside their spacecraft.

Plans call for Orion to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of San Diego. The spacecraft and crew will be recovered by the U.S. Navy forces, utilizing process practiced in the recovery of the Artemis I spacecraft.

The lessons learned throughout the mission will pave the way for humans to return to the lunar surface. Speaking in advance of the Artemis II mission, Isaacman stressed that it is a stepping-stone to missions to come.

“Artemis II is foundational for future missions, including (an) Artemis lunar landing and, in the long term, crewed missions to Mars,” he said. “Through Artemis, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before and create an enduring presence in deep space, while simultaneously preparing to land the first astronaut – an American – on Mars.”

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Astronauts Return to the Moon

Check out this short video of the liftoff of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with the Canadian Space Agency’s Jeremy Hansen on the Artemis II mission to circle around the Moon.

Video courtesy of NASA