The Artemis II mission launched Thursday from Kennedy Space Center with a crew of four astronauts, marking the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon since 1972.
Mission Launch and Initial Stages
The mission launched with an approximately 10-minute delay from its planned time of 18:24 local time (00:24 Central European Time on April 2nd). Roughly eight minutes after liftoff from Kennedy Space Center, the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket with the Orion spacecraft and crew reached space.
The first stage engines were shut down, followed by the separation of the first and second stages. The mission is scheduled to last 10 days.
Crew Composition and Milestones
The crew consists of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (commander), Victor Glover (pilot), and Christina Koch (mission specialist), along with CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen (mission specialist). Koch is the first woman, Glover the first African American, and Hansen the first Canadian to travel to lunar orbit.
Historical Context: Return to Lunar Orbit
The last crewed missions to reach the Moon were in 1972, during the Apollo 17 mission. Since then, no human has landed on the lunar surface or even flown in orbit around it. All subsequent lunar missions have been uncrewed.
The Artemis 1 mission, conducted in November 2022, successfully placed the Orion spacecraft in orbit around the Moon and returned it to Earth. This flight was uncrewed.
Future Artemis Missions and Landing Plans
Originally, Artemis III was planned for a human landing on the Moon, but NASA has recently decided that the 2027 mission will focus on testing integrated systems and operational capabilities in Earth orbit. A lunar landing is now scheduled for the Artemis IV mission in 2028.
