Scheduled to launch by April 2026, Artemis II will mark the first crewed lunar mission in over half a century. It’s a critical step in NASA’s long-term goal of returning humans to the Moon and eventually reaching Mars.
The mission is part of the larger Artemis program, which aims to reestablish a sustained human presence beyond Earth’s orbit. Artemis II will not land on the Moon, but it will carry four astronauts in a looping trajectory around it. This is the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972 that humans will fly this far from Earth. The 10-day mission is designed to test new systems and lay the groundwork for future deep space travel.
A Crewed Return to the Moon’s Orbit
According to UNILAD, Artemis II will lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida and send four astronauts on a 230,000-mile round trip. The crew includes NASA’s Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Hammock Koch, alongside Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency. They were selected in 2023 for what will be their historic journey around the Moon.
The spacecraft will trace a figure-eight path that takes it 4,600 miles beyond the Moon’s far side before swinging back toward Earth. During this journey, the crew will conduct essential checks on life-support systems, and test the limits of human communication and radiation exposure in deep space.
For the first time, astronauts will fly aboard the new Orion spacecraft, launched by the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket—both of which are critical components of NASA’s future plans to reach not only the Moon, but eventually Mars.
Artemis II is launching in early 2026. You coming with?
Now you can. Submissions are open to fly your name around the Moon.
Your name will be recorded on a memory card that will be stowed inside the Orion spacecraft. Sign up here: https://t.co/5nu5GdtPvo pic.twitter.com/ZvB1Mf4oL5
— NASA (@NASA) September 9, 2025
A Symbolic Invitation to the Public
To build global interest and engagement, NASA has opened a campaign titled ‘Send Your Name with Artemis II’. The public is invited to submit their names, which will be stored digitally on an SD card inside the Orion capsule. A virtual boarding pass is generated for each participant, offering a memento of the journey.
The initiative is designed to bring people closer to space exploration, even if they never leave Earth. As Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator at NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, explained, “It’s an opportunity to inspire people across the globe… as we lead the way in human exploration deeper into space.”
This isn’t the first time NASA has invited public participation in its missions, but the Artemis program is the most ambitious effort in decades, and symbolic gestures like this help maintain public interest and educational momentum.
Testing Critical Systems for Deep Space Travel
Beyond its symbolic reach, Artemis II serves a strictly technical purpose. The mission will be a full-scale test of all integrated systems under real spaceflight conditions. The performance of Orion’s crew module, environmental controls, navigation, and communications will be closely monitored.
As reported by the source, the astronauts will monitor the spacecraft’s radiation protection, communication lags, and the resilience of life-support mechanisms—all crucial for future missions that will include lunar landings and extended stays.
This is also the first time that the SLS rocket—the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built—will be used to launch a crew. Its successful deployment will be key in determining whether the technology is ready for Artemis III, the mission that aims to place humans back on the Moon’s surface.
