Artemis 2 (EM-2)

Launch data: Designation  2026- Launch date  March 2026 - UTC Launch site  KSC, LC-39B Launch vehicle  SLS Block1 Mission type  Crewed lunar flyby Spacecraft  CM-003 Integrity Orbital parameters:   - Orbit  Selenocentric   - Periode   days Flyby of Moon:   - Closest approch   2026 - UTC   - Distance  130 km Moon orbiter:   - Orbiter insertion   2026 - UTC   - Orbiter departure   2026 - UTC Flyby of Moon:   - Spacecraft  Orion   - Closest approach   2026 - UTC   - Distance  128 km End of mission: Landing   2026 - UTC Recovery by   Landing site  Pacific Ocean off Baja California Mission Duration  10 days (planned) Distance travelled

Description:

• Artemis II is a planned lunar spaceflight mission under the Artemis program, led by NASA. It is intended to be the second flight of the Space Launch System (SLS), and the first crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft. It is the first crewed mission around the Moon, and beyond low Earth orbit, since Apollo 17 in 1972. The mission will launch no earlier than April 1, 2026.
• The 10-day mission will carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a free-return trajectory around the Moon and back to Earth. Glover will become the first person of color, Koch the first woman, and Hansen the first person not from the United States to leave Earth orbit and to travel around the Moon. The flight is set to take the crew farther from Earth than any previous crewed mission, before reentering Earth's atmosphere at a record speed of approximately 25,000 miles per hour (40,000 km/h).

Crew

Mission:

• The Artemis II mission plan is to send four astronauts in the first crewed Orion spacecraft into a lunar flyby using the Block 1 variant of the Space Launch System. The mission profile is a multi-trans-lunar injection (MTLI), or multiple departure burns, and includes a free-return trajectory from the Moon. The Orion spacecraft will be sent to a high Earth orbit with a period of roughly 24 hours. During this time the crew will perform various checkouts of the spacecraft's life support systems as well as an in-space rendezvous and proximity operations demonstration using the spent Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) as a target. When Orion reaches perigee once again, it will fire its main engine to complete the TLI maneuver, which will send it onto a lunar free-return trajectory, before returning to Earth.

Official crew portrait, clockwise from left: Koch, Glover, Hansen and Wiseman. Credit: NASA.

Diagram showing the planned objectives of the Artemis II mission. Credit: NASA.

Orion spacecraft Integrity and its European Service Module for the Artemis II mission being prepared in March 2025. Credit: NASA/Rad Sinyak.

NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, secured to the mobile launcher, are seen at Launch Pad 39B, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky.

Artemis 2 boardong Pass. Credit: NASA/Rad Sinyak.

Mission details:

External links:

• Wikipedia: Artemis 2 mission - Artemis programme - Orion spacecraft

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