Artemis II

Artemis II, U.S. space mission, launched on April 1, 2026, and successfully concluded on April 10. It was the first flight of astronauts to the Moon since 1972, and the first crewed mission of the Artemis program. Artemis II’s crew of four (commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Jr., and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen) traveled around the far side of the Moon and back to Earth. During the mission, the crew set the record for humans journeying the farthest from Earth, reaching a distance of 406,771 km (252,756 miles).

The mission tested the capabilities of the Orion spacecraft, demonstrated that the spacecraft’s life-support systems could handle missions lasting multiple days, and gave astronauts opportunities to practice various tasks that would be used on later missions. The Artemis III mission, which is expected to occur in 2027, will be used to test lunar landing equipment in Earth orbit in preparation for Artemis IV’s crewed lunar landing mission, which is planned for 2028.

Spacecraft

1 of 2

2 of 2

The Artemis II mission used the Orion spacecraft, which has two parts: a cone-shaped crew module that carries the astronauts and a cylindrical service module that has Orion’s main engine and carries water and air as well as four solar arrays to power the spacecraft. The service module, built by the European Space Agency (ESA), is based on the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), an uncrewed spacecraft that supplied the International Space Station (ISS). Orion had its first, uncrewed test flight in December 2014, completing two orbits of Earth. The Artemis II astronauts dubbed their Orion spacecraft Integrity.

Discover how ordinary objects work, and expand your understanding of the familiar.

SIGN UP

" height="20" alt="HEW Logo">

Thank you for signing up!"

Back to homepage

By clicking "Sign Up", you consent to the Britannica Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Mission timeline

Artemis II was launched on the Space Launch System (SLS), one of the largest and most powerful rockets ever built, from a pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the evening April 1. The central stage of the SLS was powered by four liquid hydrogen–liquid oxygen engines. Flanking the central stage are two solid rocket boosters, which fell away two minutes after launch. The central stage later carried Orion to Earth orbit. It weighs 2.6 million kg (5.74 million pounds) when fully fueled and has a maximum thrust of 39 million newtons (8.8 million pounds).

Almost two hours after launch, Orion was raised to a high Earth orbit with an apogee (farthest point from Earth) of about 71,656 km (44,525 miles). The spacecraft then separated from the upper stage of the rocket that propelled it to the high orbit. The crew took manual control of Orion and performed a series of maneuvers near the upper stage that were meant to simulate docking with other spacecraft on future Artemis missions. Orion spent about a day in the high orbit before performing a translunar injection burn, an engine firing that took it to the Moon.

Shortly after midnight Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on April 6, Orion entered the Moon’s gravitational sphere of influence. During the course of the day, they flew around the Moon’s far side at a distance of 6,545 km (4,067 miles) from the lunar surface. At about 6:44 PM EDT, Artemis pilot Victor Glover sent the crew’s last message to Earth as they passed behind the Moon and lost contact with Earth for about 40 minutes. When the Sun passed behind the Moon as seen from Artemis, the astronauts saw several impacts from meteorites on the far side of the Moon. At 7:02 PM EDT, Artemis II astronauts reached a distance of 406,771 km (252,756 miles) from Earth, breaking the previous record—400,171 km (248,655 miles)—set by the Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970.

The same translunar injection burn that put Orion on the path to the Moon put it on a “free return” trajectory, allowing it to fly around the Moon and use that body’s gravity to set it on a course back to Earth. The burn, which took place shortly after 8:00 PM EDT on April 7, lasted 15 seconds. Orion landed in the Pacific Ocean, near San Diego at 8:07 PM EDT on April 10. The mission took a little more than nine days from launch to splashdown.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

SUBSCRIBE

Artemis II in photos

Crew

The Artemis II crew consisted of four astronauts:

• Reid Wiseman was the commander of the mission. Formerly a test pilot in the United States Navy, he became an astronaut in 2009. Before Artemis II, he made one spaceflight, during which he spent 165 days on the ISS in 2014.
• Victor Glover, Jr., was the pilot of the mission. He was also a pilot in the navy and became an astronaut in 2013. He also made one spaceflight before Artemis II, during which he spent 168 days on the ISS from 2020 to 2021. He was the first Black person to fly to the Moon.
• Christina Koch was a mission specialist. Before becoming an astronaut in 2013, she was station chief at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) American Samoa Observatory. Before Artemis II, she made one spaceflight, during which she spent 328 days on the ISS from 2019 to 2020, the longest single spaceflight by a woman. She was the first woman to travel to the Moon.
• Jeremy Hansen was also a mission specialist. He was a fighter pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force and became an astronaut in 2009. Artemis II was his first spaceflight, which made him the first Canadian to go to the Moon.

Future Artemis missions

A lunar lander will be tested in Earth orbit on Artemis III. Artemis III would test either a lander built by SpaceX, a lander built by Blue Origin, or both landers. The space suits that astronauts would use on the Moon would also be tested on this mission.

Humans would again set foot on the lunar surface, this time on Artemis IV. As part of the Artemis IV mission, two astronauts would spend almost a week in the Moon’s south polar region, where frozen water may exist in permanently shadowed craters. This objective represents a significant departure from the Apollo missions, on which astronauts explored the equatorial regions of the Moon. Proposed lunar surface missions in the Artemis program include building a base camp at the lunar south pole, where astronauts could stay for one or two months.