Overview
- NASA targets an early 2026 launch window for Artemis 2, with liftoff possible as soon as Feb. 6 and no later than April, pending final prelaunch checks.
- The 10-day mission will send Orion on a free-return trajectory that arcs about 4,700 miles beyond the moon’s far side before Earth gravity guides the capsule home.
- Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will fly the mission, marking multiple firsts for a NASA lunar assignment.
- Artemis 2 will be the first crewed flight of NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion, launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
- Orion’s European-built service module will supply propulsion, power and life support, underscoring the program’s international partnership and Moon-to-Mars strategy.