Overview
- The four-person crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen—will fly Orion around the Moon and return to Earth.
- It will launch from Kennedy Space Center on the SLS Block 1 rocket, marking the first crewed flight for both SLS and Orion.
- NASA plans a roughly 10-day mission to verify life-support, guidance, and deep-space operations with humans aboard.
- The profile includes two Earth checkout orbits, a translunar injection, a path about 4,700 miles beyond the lunar far side, and a free-return trajectory.
- Reporting notes China is moving toward a pre-2030 crewed lunar attempt as analysts warn U.S. budget and policy shifts could delay later Artemis milestones.