Everything you need to know about NASA’s moon mission: Artemis II crew, launch date and objective

Finally, humankind will go to the moon once again. NASA’s upcoming Artemis II mission is set to be the first time our species will reach Earth’s closest natural satellite since Apollo 17 in 1972, with four astronauts set to travel 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometres) to get there.

Back then, Chuck Berry, T. Rex, and Marvin Gaye were filling the airwaves as Nixon’s negotiations broke down in Vietnam and the Miami Dolphins became the first undefeated NFL team, going 14-0 in the regular season and winning all three postseason games to finish 17-0.

Now, NASA is once again the brink of an extraordinary milestone in human space exploration with the upcoming Artemis II mission, the first crewed journey beyond low Earth orbit in more than half a century and a mission that marks a major stepping stone toward returning humans to the Moon’s surface and preparing for future missions to Mars.

Scheduled to launch no earlier than early February 2026, with opportunities stretching into April, Artemis II aims to send a team of astronauts on a 10-day lunar flyby, circling the Moon before safely returning to Earth.

Artemis II is fundamentally a test flight. Its main objective is to validate systems, hardware, and procedures that will be critical for future Moon landings. The spacecraft’s life support, navigation, communication, and safety systems will be studied with the crew aboard under real deep-space conditions.

Artemis II: crew & roles

Here are the four astronauts set to fly:

• Reid Wiseman, mission commander

• Victor Glover, pilot

• Christina Koch, mission specialist

• Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist representing the Canadian Space Agency

Artemis II will lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop NASA’s powerful Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1 rocket, paired with the Orion spacecraft designed to carry the crew around the Moon and back safely.

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