NASA Counts Down Final Week Before Historic Artemis 2 Moon Mission
Artemis 2 will be the first astronaut mission beyond low Earth orbit in more than 50 years.
1 week away! NASA gearing up to launch Artemis 2 astronauts around the moon on April 1
With just one week remaining until liftoff, NASA is making final preparations to send four astronauts on a historic journey around the moon aboard the Artemis 2 mission. Scheduled to launch on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the mission will mark the first time humans have ventured beyond low Earth orbit in more than 50 years, since the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. The crew will ride atop the massive Space Launch System rocket inside the Orion spacecraft for a roughly 10-day trip that will take them around the far side of the moon and back to Earth.
The four-member crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Glover will make history as the first Black astronaut to fly beyond low Earth orbit, while Koch will become the first woman to do so. Hansen will also become the first non-American to travel to the moon, representing a new era of international cooperation in deep space exploration.
Artemis 2 builds on the success of the uncrewed Artemis 1 mission, which launched in November 2022 and successfully tested the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule during a 25-day flight around the moon. Engineers have since reviewed data from that mission and made upgrades to both the rocket and spacecraft to ensure crew safety. The upcoming flight will serve as a critical test of Orion's life support systems and navigation capabilities with astronauts on board before NASA attempts a lunar landing on the subsequent Artemis 3 mission.
NASA officials have expressed confidence that the mission is on track for its April 1 launch date, with teams completing final checkouts and countdown rehearsals at the launch pad. Weather forecasters will continue to monitor conditions in the days ahead, but early outlooks appear favorable. If successful, Artemis 2 will represent a major milestone in NASA's broader Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustained human presence on and around the moon and ultimately pave the way for crewed missions to Mars in the coming decades.