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NASA Sets Feb. 6 Opening for Artemis II Launch Window, Paving First Crewed Lunar Flyby in 50 Years

The mission serves as a risk-reduction test toward a crewed return to the Moon’s surface.

Overview

  • NASA’s launch window runs roughly 60 days through April with liftoff planned from Kennedy Space Center on the Space Launch System rocket.
  • The ten-day flight will fly Orion around the Moon without landing to validate deep-space operations and spacecraft systems with astronauts aboard.
  • The crew comprises Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
  • Christina Koch is poised to become the first woman to orbit the Moon during the mission.
  • The profile includes two Earth orbits, a translunar injection and four-day transit, proximity operations near the Moon, and an ocean splashdown after return, following a Dec. 20 full countdown rehearsal and ongoing final integration; the crew has named the Orion capsule Integrity.