Artemis II crew may launch to the Moon as early as February 2026
NASA has set a more solid timeline for when the next human mission flies to the Moon.
Early in 2026, three Americans and one Canadian will blast off on a history-making flight. They will not only return us to the Moon after more than half a century, but may also travel farther away from Earth than any other humans have ever gone.
It's been nearly three years since NASA's Artemis I uncrewed test mission flew around the Moon and back, and now we have a much better idea of when the next phase of the program will launch.
The uncrewed Artemis I rocket stands on the launch platform in June 2022, preparing to lift off on its test flight. (NASA)
On Tuesday, NASA officials announced that Artemis II, the first crewed flight to the Moon since 1972, is on track to launch early next year.
Prior to this week, the mission was slated to lift off sometime in April 2026. While NASA hasn't wiped that from the slate, the potential launch date could move up by as much as two months.
This artist's conception drawing shows the Artemis II Orion spacecraft, now officially named 'Integrity' by the crew, flying around the Moon, with the Earth in the distance. (NASA)
While April remains the current official launch date, depending on the progress made over the next few months, Artemis II may lift off as early as February of next year.
What is Artemis II?
Artemis II is NASA's crewed follow-up test flight to the Artemis I uncrewed test flight. The purpose of the flight is very similar to the Apollo 8 mission, which flew in late December of 1968.
According to NASA, "Artemis II is the first crewed mission aboard NASA's foundational human deep space capabilities: the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and the ground systems needed to launch them. The approximately 10-day mission will test and stress the Orion spacecraft's life-support systems to prove the capabilities and techniques required to live and work in deep space in ways only humans can do."
The Artemis II crew, with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on the far left, and NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch. (NASA)
"This mission ... would make Canada the second country to have an astronaut fly around the Moon," the Canadian Space Agency says on their website. "During Artemis II, the crew will set a record for the farthest human travel beyond the far side of the Moon."
The record for the farthest distance travelled from Earth was set during the Apollo 13 mission in April of 1970, and is held by NASA astronauts Jim Lovell, John Swigert, and Fred Haise. The mission may be famous for the accident that endangered the crew and caused them to miss their visit to the Moon's surface. However, when they entered lunar orbit on April 14, they were a total of 400,171 kilometres from Earth.
This diagram shows the path Orion will take as it flies on the Artemis II mission, carrying four astronauts on the next phase of human space exploration. Credit: NASA
For the Artemis II mission, there is no way of knowing the total distance the Orion spacecraft will travel from Earth until the day it lifts off from Kennedy Space Center. However, it is expected to fly by the far side of the Moon at a distance of over 7,400 kilometres.
That, itself, will set a new space record for farthest distance travelled beyond the far side of the Moon (also currently held by the Apollo 13 crew). Plus, if the mission is timed for early February, early March, or early April, the Moon will be far enough away that the Artemis II crew could also break the record distance from Earth.