NASA's Artemis 2 moon mission could launch in about a month

NASA's Artemis 2 will carry four astronauts on a roughly 10-day trip circling the moon and could launch as early as Feb. 6, with the mission testing Orion and SLS systems ahead of later lunar landings.

NASA is preparing Artemis 2, the first crewed flight to lunar space in more than 50 years, and current schedules place its launch window beginning Feb. 6 and running into April. Four astronauts will ride the Orion capsule atop the Space Launch System rocket on a roughly 10-day mission that will fly around the moon without landing. The flight is intended as a crewed systems test to validate spacecraft hardware and operations and to support NASA's longer-term plan for a sustained lunar presence and future missions to Mars. Artemis 2 follows the uncrewed Artemis 1 test flight in November 2022. Mission details: - Crew: NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, plus Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen. - Launch window: Schedules place lift-off as early as Feb. 6 and no later than April; NASA has not named an official target date. - Vehicles and site: The Orion capsule (built by Lockheed Martin) will ride the Space Launch System rocket (with major contractors Boeing and Northrop Grumman) from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. - Trajectory and duration: The mission is planned as a roughly 10-day flight that will carry Orion about 4,700 miles beyond the far side of the moon on a free-return trajectory using Earth's gravity to bring the crew back. - Program context: Artemis 2 is a crewed shakedown that aims to test systems needed for later expeditions; NASA has targeted Artemis 3 for a lunar surface mission no earlier than 2027, though that timeline depends on development of a Human Landing System. Summary: Artemis 2 would mark the first human trip to lunar space since the Apollo era and is intended to confirm Orion and SLS performance with astronauts aboard. NASA has completed major stacking of the rocket and capsule and is preparing rollout to Launch Complex 39A for pad integration and a wet dress rehearsal in the coming days. The results of this flight will inform preparation and timing for Artemis 3 and the agency's broader moon-to-Mars plans.