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Argentina Joins NASA’s Artemis II as Launch Windows Open for Early 2026 Moon Flyby

Final preparations set up the first crewed lunar‑adjacent mission in more than five decades.

Overview

  • NASA lists launch opportunities beginning February 6 with additional chances in March and April, with the exact date contingent on technical readiness, weather and range availability.
  • The mission will carry Argentina’s ATENEA 12U CubeSat from CONAE and national partners to validate deep‑space radiation measurements, component performance, GPS reception above the constellation and long‑range communications.
  • Argentina’s official claim of a 72,000 km record distance is inconsistent with known EarthMoon distances and remains unclarified by authorities or NASA.
  • SLS and Orion are moving into place at Kennedy Space Center, with rollout and pad integration beginning on Saturday ahead of wet dress rehearsal and flight‑readiness reviews.
  • Four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen—will fly a roughly 10‑day free‑return trajectory around the Moon without a landing to validate life‑support, navigation and communications systems.