Artemis II mission timeline outlines the 10-day flight around the moon.

NASA will send four astronauts on Artemis II for a planned 10-day crewed flight around the moon to test Orion's life-support, navigation and communications systems; launch could occur as early as Feb. 6 pending a launchpad fueling test.

NASA plans a 10-day crewed flight around the moon called Artemis II to verify Orion's systems in deep space. Four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — will fly the capsule during the mission. The flight follows Artemis I, an uncrewed test, and is a required step before planned lunar surface missions later this decade. Launch readiness depends on a crucial rocket fueling test at Kennedy Space Center. Mission outline: - Launch aboard the Space Launch System; the rocket will shed boosters and place Orion into Earth orbit before an upper stage inserts the spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit. - Early in the mission the crew will test life-support, communications and navigation while briefly operating beyond GPS coverage, and Orion will perform a translunar injection burn to enter a free-return trajectory toward the moon. - During the transit (Days 3–5) crews will continue system checks, practice emergency procedures and perform radiation-protection demonstrations; Orion enters the moon's sphere of influence late on Day 5. - On Day 6 Orion will fly about 4,000–6,000 miles above the lunar surface, pass behind the moon where communications blackout is expected, and may set a new distance record for humans from Earth. - Days 7–9 are the return transit using Earth–moon gravity to guide the capsule; on Day 10 the service module will separate, the capsule will reenter and deploy parachutes for splashdown off the coast of San Diego, with U.S. Navy recovery teams typically reaching the crew within about two hours. Summary: The mission is intended to validate Orion's systems and crew operations in deep space as a precursor to later lunar surface missions. The next procedural step is a launchpad rocket fueling test; the launch window could open as early as Feb. 6 if that test and related checks proceed as planned.