NASA’s Artemis 2 mission — Everything you need to know

Artemis 2 is the second scheduled flight of the Artemis program and the first crewed Artemis mission.

Artemis 2 will embody three astronauts from NASA and one from the Canadian Space Firm. NASA commander Reid Wiseman, NASA pilot Victor Glover, NASA mission specialist Christina Koch and CSA mission specialist Jeremy Hansen will fly throughout the moon sooner than returning to Earth. The roughly 10-day-long mission is tentatively scheduled to launch in April 2026.

Artemis 2 will use the huge Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket and Orion spacecraft to launch the crew on the lunar flyby mission. The astronauts and mission controllers will collect info on Orion and the crew’s effectivity to guage how ready the Artemis program is to ship of us to the moon’s flooring.

The inclusion of a CSA astronaut is due to Canada’s dedication to supply Canadarm3, a robotic arm which will service the NASA Gateway home station. In change, CSA will receive astronaut seats and science slots aboard some future Artemis missions, along with Artemis 2.

Related: NASA’s Artemis 1 moon mission outlined in footage

Artemis 2 launch date

The Artemis 2 launch date is tentatively set for April 2026, nevertheless that relies upon upon the readiness of some devices.

NASA continues to guage the data collected from Artemis 1 to make changes, as required for Artemis 2. Artemis 1 effectively launched Artemis 1 at 01:47 a.m. EST (0647 GMT) on November 16, from Launch Superior 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission collected radiation info and engineering info to guage the SLS and Orion spacecraft’s readiness to carry folks.

The crewed Artemis 2 mission requires new spacesuits which may be constructed to endure the cislunar setting, which has additional radiation than inside low Earth orbit the place astronauts receive additional security. Spacesuit maker Axiom Space revealed its prototype spacesuit in March 2023 nevertheless has provided no vital progress updates since.

As of November 2024, NASA is assembling key elements of the Artemis 2 {{hardware}} in anticipation of doing testing and integration later inside the course of. Crucial mission change from Artemis 1 could be the supply of an environmental system to supply oxygen to the astronauts, as a result of the sooner uncrewed mission did not require that.

Who will fly on Artemis 2?

NASA’s Artemis 2 mission — Everything you need to know

The Artemis II crew, along with Canadian Space Firm astronaut Jeremy Hansen (at left) and NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch, pose collectively in an Orion spacecraft simulator at Johnson Space Center. (Image credit score rating: NASA/James Blair)

The Artemis 2 crew was launched on April 3, 2023, all through an event held at Ellington Space, home to NASA’s aircraft operations located near the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, each of these adventurers has their very personal story. Nevertheless collectively, they characterize our creed: E pluribus unum — out of many, one,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Collectively, we’ll usher in a model new interval of exploration for a model new know-how of star sailors and dreamers — the Artemis Period.”

Briefly, the 4 astronauts embody:

NASA commander Reid Wiseman: Wiseman is an aviator with the U.S. Navy who was a examine pilot and mission officer at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland when chosen by NASA in 2009. Artemis 2 will probably be Wiseman’s second mission. He has 165 days of home experience on Expedition 41, which flew to the Worldwide Space Station between Might and November of 2014.

NASA pilot Victor Glover: Glover could be the primary Black astronaut to fly throughout the moon. In his first spaceflight mission, Glover, a Naval aviator, piloted aircraft inside the U.S., Italy, Japan and the Middle East. He was chosen by NASA in 2013 and Artemis 2 will probably be his second home mission. On his first, he served as a result of the pilot on the Crew-1 flight of SpaceX’s Crew-1 capsule that launched Nov. 15, 2020. Crew-1 was the first operational industrial crewed mission to the ISS.

NASA mission specialist Christina Koch: Koch is a scientist and engineer, having beforehand labored at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the Johns Hopkins Faculty Utilized Physics Laboratory on quite a few missions along with serving in Antarctica on the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and Palmer Station. She was chosen by NASA in 2013. On Koch’s earlier mission, she flew a female record-setting 328 days in home on the ISS whereas collaborating inside the first all-female spacewalk.

CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen: Hansen is a fighter pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Stress whose earlier work has included efforts with NORAD (North American Aerospace Safety Command) and inside the Arctic. He was chosen by the CSA in 2009 and on account of Canada’s small contributions in home, should not be however flown. That said, he has in depth experience with the home program working in distant environments and has held many senior administration positions. Large duties embody managing the teaching schedules of the entire 2017 astronaut class (Canadians and Folks alike, a major for Canada), advising Canadian politicians and policy-makers on the nation’s home planning duties, and creating the spacewalk sequence for the superior refurbishment of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrument on the ISS.

What will Artemis 2 do?

Infographic detailing the different stages of the Artemis 2 mission.

Artemis II could be the primary crewed flight of NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. In the middle of the 10-day mission, 4 astronauts will confirm your entire spacecraft’s strategies perform as designed inside the deep home setting. (Image credit score rating: NASA)

Artemis 2 could be the primary foremost examine of the SLS and Orion spacecraft strategies with folks on board. The mission will purpose to hit 4 foremost metrics of readiness, in step with the Canadian Space Firm: mission planning, system effectivity, crew interfaces and steering and navigation strategies.

The mission path will see Orion take an orbit spherical Earth typically often known as “hybrid free return,” which is ready to see the spacecraft orbit Earth twice to pick up velocity for the trans-lunar injection. Orion will then swing throughout the moon on a “free-return trajectory” to make a direct return once more to our planet, NASA has said.

The mission is predicted to remaining between eight and 10 days, nevertheless is also extended to as many as three weeks counting on the mission targets. The 4 astronauts on board Artemis 2 could be the furthest of us to fly from Earth after 1970’s Apollo 13, assuming the model new mission reaches its anticipated most altitude of 5,523 miles (8,889 km) above the moon’s flooring.

The European Space Firm says the mission will wish to understand the subsequent milestones:

Launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B to low-Earth orbit.
A maneuver in Earth orbit to spice up the perigee, or the underside degree of the orbit, roughly 40 minutes after liftoff. This may probably be carried out with the SLS Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS).
A burn to spice up the apogee, or highest part of the orbit, as soon as extra using the ICPS.
A system confirm at 42 hours after the mission begins to verify the orbit is correct, ranging from (112 miles) 185 km on the closest degree to Earth and 1,616 miles (2,600 km) at its highest degree.
The ICPS will probably be disposed and Orion will do a translunar injection to fly to the moon. The journey to the moon will take 4 days and have a most altitude of 5,523 miles (8,889 km) above the moon’s flooring.
The spacecraft will return home. As quickly because the spacecraft is close to Earth, the crew module will separate from the European Service Module and the crew module adapter, allowing for splashdown inside the Pacific Ocean.

Teaching for the mission will take roughly 18 months, in step with NASA. Ascent teaching will embody “prelaunch operations throughout the launch pad, and gives the crew a deep understanding of foremost milestones foremost as a lot as and thru launch, along with the first few hours in orbit.”

Preparing for a return to Earth will embody “tips about how you can monitor and execute entry operations, tips about how you can speak with restoration teams, and tips about how you can take care of completely totally different post-splashdown eventualities they might face as they await restoration on the ocean flooring.”

The coasting, moon-circling and Earth-orbiting half will embody mission actions, science experiments and contingency teaching. The astronauts will probably be requested to do a “rendezvous and proximity operations demonstration” in Earth orbit to simulate docking with NASA’s forthcoming Gateway station.

The astronauts may even receive specific teaching to the Orion and Space Launch System for quite a lot of common and emergency situations, along with finding out tips about how you can speak with Mission Administration from deep home, amongst totally different points.

What comes after Artemis 2?

Investigators working with Artemis 2 will spend a variety of months at the least analyzing info. The next mission in line is a landing mission known as Artemis 3, which is ready to land on the ground of the moon in 2026 if all goes to plan.

NASA’s Office of the Inspector Fundamental has expressed skepticism about that timeline. There have been delays in getting the human landing system ready, which is ready to use SpaceX’s Starship, on account of technical and approved causes. In addition to, there have been progress delays inside the spacesuits that NASA was creating; the corporate has pivoted to industrial suppliers to fill the opening.

Starship has confronted quite a few progress challenges, along with environmental permits and a failure all through its debut launch to deal with in April 2023. SpaceX has pledged to refly Starship quickly. Nevertheless approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and totally different components may push the Artemis 3 landing to not lower than 2026.

Every time Artemis 3 lands on the ground, it’ll be not lower than 53 years given that remaining touchdown by folks since NASA’s Apollo 17 in 1972. NASA’s Apollo program observed 12 folks, all white males, land on the moon between 1969 and 1972. NASA has pledged the first landing mission (and future landing missions) will embody a lady and a person of shade.

A guide to the Canadian Space Agency: Key missions, achievements, and future plans

Joe Acaba

Joe Acaba is a former educator who has flown thrice to deal with, along with two long-duration missions on board the ISS. In February 2023, he was named chief of the NASA Astronaut Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Acaba is the first specific particular person of Hispanic heritage to hold the perform.

How will Artemis 2 inform future home missions for the Artemis program and Gateway?

Now that now we have now folks inside the capsule, we can have a life assist system that now we have now not however examined out. So that in actual fact is a huge step. The truth is, we have to get our crew members once more safely. After which we take that after which we check out Artemis 2, and Artemis 3 and subsequent.

What’s subsequent after Artemis 2?

As soon as we go proper right down to the ground (on Artemis 3), we have now to grasp how this capsule behaves. When Gateway will get (to the moon), we can have a mission on how will we rendezvous and dock to the Gateway. All of these are merely small steps, and the order may change spherical just a bit bit.

What kind of traits will each of the astronauts convey to the Artemis 2 crew?

You presumably can see that they’re all individually very proficient, nevertheless if you select a crew it’s how do they work collectively — that is what a gaggle is all about. (For example) Victor’s an unbelievable pilot, and Jeremy’s an unbelievable pilot, they often can use these piloting talents. (Further sometimes) you presumably can take into consideration dwelling in a capsule for larger than 10 days, it will not matter how technically succesful you are, it’s how are you as a human.

This Q&A depends upon an distinctive Space.com interview with Joe Acaba on April 3, 2023, hours after the Artemis 2 crew’s identities have been made public.

Additional property

You presumably can study additional regarding the Artemis program on the NASA Artemis website. To ensure that you a deep dive into Artemis 2, search the recommendation of this European Space Firm Artemis 2 web site.