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    NASA · CSA · Crewed

    Artemis II

    The first crewed flight of NASA's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft carried four astronauts around the Moon and back — the first humans to travel to the Moon's vicinity since Apollo 17 in 1972.

    CompletedSplashed down in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego on 10 April 2026 after a roughly 10-day flight.

    Launch date

    2026-04-01

    Destination

    Moon (crewed lunar flyby)

    Mission end

    2026-04-10

    Objectives

    • Demonstrate Orion's life-support, navigation and communication systems with crew aboard
    • Fly a free-return trajectory around the Moon
    • Validate high-speed lunar-return re-entry with a crewed heat shield

    Spacecraft

    Orion crew module (named Integrity by the crew) with ESA-built European Service Module, launched on SLS Block 1

    Scientific instruments and systems

    • Orion life-support and crew systems
    • Optical navigation cameras
    • Radiation sensors and crew dosimeters

    Timeline

    1. 2026-04-01Launch from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B
    2. 2026-04Lunar flyby on a free-return trajectory
    3. 2026-04-10Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean; crew recovered by USS John P. Murtha

    Major achievements

    • First crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years
    • Jeremy Hansen became the first Canadian to travel to the Moon
    • Christina Koch became the first woman, and Victor Glover the first person of colour, to fly to the Moon

    Status reviewed 2026-10-23. For official images and the latest updates, visit the agency pages listed under Sources.