NASA is preparing to launch its first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years, marking a major milestone in space exploration as part of its Artemis programme.
The Artemis II mission, scheduled for early April 2026, will send four astronauts on a roughly 10-day journey around the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft, powered by the Space Launch System rocket.
While the mission will not land on the lunar surface, it is designed to test critical systems including life support, navigation and deep-space communication, paving the way for future missions that aim to return humans to the Moon permanently.
The crew includes three NASA astronauts and one Canadian astronaut, with the mission expected to travel farther from Earth than any human flight since the Apollo era. Artemis II follows the successful uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022 and is a key step toward future lunar landings planned later this decade, as the United States seeks to re-establish a sustained presence on the Moon.
