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Argentina to Fly Atenea CubeSat on NASA’s Artemis II as February Launch Window Opens

The crewed lunar flyby serves as a systems check to prove Orion and SLS for a later surface landing.

Overview

  • The Argentine government announced its participation in Artemis II with Atenea, a domestically built 12U CubeSat from CONAE and national partners, already integrated and in the United States for deployment as a secondary payload.
  • NASA is working toward a February 6 target within launch windows running from late January through April, with up to four attempts per window and timing dependent on orbital mechanics, weather, supplies and Eastern Range traffic.
  • Artemis II is a roughly 10‑day free‑return flight around the Moon without a landing, focused on validating life‑support, navigation and communications while gathering radiation data to inform Artemis III.
  • The crew comprises Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), Christina Koch (mission specialist) and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
  • Final assembly and mounting of the Space Launch System and Orion are underway at Kennedy Space Center as NASA prepares for the first crewed lunar‑orbit mission of the Artemis era.