NASA’s upcoming Artemis 2 mission to the moon will mark the beginning of a return for humanity to the moon in over 50 years, with the last recorded mission to the Lunar surface taking place during the Apollo Missions back in the 60s and 70s, with Apollo 17. With that said, here’s everything you need to know about Artemis 2.

Artemis 2: What Is It?

The Artemis 2 mission will launch on April 1, 2026, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will be a crewed flyby mission around the moon. The mission will last for 10 days. Artemis 2 is also set to be the first mission where a crew will be aboard the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft.

The SLS is a super-heavy class launch vehicle manufactured primarily by Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA), with the Boeing-Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE:LMT) joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA) also involved in its development. The vehicle stands at over 322 feet.

The Astronauts would be on board the Orion spacecraft, which would carry and sustain the crew on Artemis missions and land them back on Earth. NASA says that Astronauts on the missions would periodically fly the spacecraft manually during the flight around the moon and back.

The Artemis 2 mission will serve as a test for the planned Artemis 3 mission, which would mark humanity’s return to the lunar surface in 2028. It will also test and demonstrate optical communications to and from Earth using the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System. The Artemis program was established in 2017.

Artemis 2’s Crew

The mission will comprise four crew members, with NASA astronauts Commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch joined by the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Jeremy Hansen. Wiseman is a U.S. Navy test pilot who spent six months at the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014. Glover, on the other hand, is a former test pilot who served as the pilot on the SpaceX Crew 1 mission.

Koch is an electrical engineer and physicist who has been an astronaut since 2013. She spent 328 days at the ISS, marking the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman in 2019. Hansen, on the other hand, is a former fighter jet pilot who joined the CSA in 2009.

NASA’s Moonbase Roadmap

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman has charted out a return to the lunar surface before the end of President Donald Trump‘s second term at the White House, with the agency also revealing a revised Lunar roadmap that involves establishing a permanent presence on the moon.

NASA had also earlier touted its goal to build nuclear reactors on the surface of the moon, aiming to keep the U.S. ahead of China and Russia.

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