NASA Prepares to Launch Artemis II on Historic Crewed Mission around Moon

NASA is preparing to launch the most powerful rocket ever built as part of a landmark mission that will send astronauts around the Moon and back to Earth, marking the first crewed lunar flight in more than 50 years.

The Artemis II mission is scheduled to lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on February 6, carrying four astronauts on a 10-day journey covering approximately 685,000 miles. 

The mission will conclude with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, according to Britain’s The Guardian.

Artemis II will be only the second flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the first to carry a human crew. 

The astronauts will live and work aboard the Orion spacecraft, testing life-support and communication systems and practicing critical docking maneuvers in deep space.

On Saturday, NASA’s massive Crawler-Transporter 2 began moving the 5,000-ton SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad, a key milestone in final launch preparations.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman described the mission as “one of the most important human spaceflight missions of the past half-century,” underscoring its significance for the future of lunar exploration.

While the crew will not land on the Moon or enter lunar orbit, they will become the first humans to fly around the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. 

The mission follows a successful uncrewed Artemis test flight conducted in 2022 and is intended to pave the way for Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts near the Moon’s south pole as early as next year.