For the first time in more than half a century, NASA will soon be sending an intrepid crew of astronauts toward the Moon with the launch of the Artemis II mission.
By as soon as the first few days of February, four astronauts will become the first visitors to the vicinity of Earth’s natural satellite since the Cold War years. Although the crew will not touch down on lunar soil, the excitement surrounding Artemis II involves its role in propelling an exciting and long-awaited new era in lunar exploration, with a long-term focus on establishing an ongoing human presence on the Moon.
As NASA’s astronaut crew, engineers, and mission specialists prepare to make history with the forthcoming launch, here are five things you should know about Artemis II, its crew, and what its scientific missions will include while in orbit.
The Artemis II Mission
A focal point of the Artemis II mission involves the fact that this will be the first time NASA has launched a crew aboard its foundational deep space rocket, the SLS (Space Launch System), and the agency’s new Orion spacecraft.
NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen illuminated by lights at Launch Complex 39B, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida (Image Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber).
While in orbit, the mission will provide NASA with the first real opportunity to test the operability of the spacecraft’s systems while having a space-bound crew on board. Not only that, but the mission’s trajectory will carry its astronaut crew farther than any human has traveled into space.
Fundamentally, Artemis II will offer a proving ground for NASA’s most state-of-the-art space exploration capabilities, while setting the pace for future missions that will travel to the lunar surface and, if all goes according to plan, establish a long-term presence on the Moon. This will not only support ongoing lunar science and exploration but will mark an important steppingstone on the path toward eventual crewed explorations of Mars.
The Crew: First of “The Artemis Generation”
NASA has selected a team of four astronauts for the Artemis II mission. The crew consists of Commander Reid Wiseman, a former Naval aviator and Chief of the Astronaut Office; Pilot Victor Glover, also a former Naval aviator who previously served as a pilot on the SpaceX Crew-1 mission; Mission Specialist Christina Koch, who currently holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman; and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut.
(Left to Right): CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch, will comprise the Artemis II crew (Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett).
Notably, this foursome will be the first crew to carry NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft in a journey around the Moon, offering the first full systems test of the spacecraft’s capabilities in a full-scale space mission.
Astronaut Health Experiments
The Artemis II crew will perform a range of science experiments during their mission, many of which will focus on astronaut health to provide NASA with an unprecedented look at the impact of deep space travel on humans. Here’s a quick look at several of the health-related experiments the Artemis II crew will be conducting.
ARCHeR: NASA’s Artemis Research for Crew Health and Readiness (ARCHeR) will focus on monitoring the crew’s sleep patterns, activity while on board, and overall well-being, which will inform future planning efforts to ensure optimal human health and performance in space.
NASA image depicting the actigraphy device that certain Artemis II astronauts will wear during their mission around the Moon. The device will measure the crew members’ motion, sleep patterns, and exposure to light (Image Credit: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas).
AVATAR: The A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response (AVATAR) study will comprise investigations into the effects of increased exposure to radiation and microgravity that the Artemis II crew will experience, monitored using organ-on-a-chip devices.
Immune Biomarkers: During Artemis II, blood and saliva samples will also be monitored to study the impact of deep space travel on the immune system.
Artemis II Standard Measures: Ongoing health information will be provided by each Artemis II astronaut, which will be stored in a data bank for use in future studies related to astronaut health.
Radiation Studies: Additional monitoring of radiation levels within and outside the Orion capsule will allow NASA’s science team to characterize the deep space environment.
Lunar Science Studies
Since Artemis II marks the first time humans have journeyed to the Moon in more than 50 years, marking what NASA has dubbed “The Artemis Generation” of space exploration, the mission will collect large volumes of data related to lunar science.
During the crew’s passage by the far side of the Moon, the NASA astronauts will perform a three-hour analysis and image collection operation to photograph the Moon’s ancient lava flows, impact craters, and geological features.
Preparation for this portion of their mission included studies on Earth in moonlike environments like deserts and rocky landscapes, which help to inform them about many of the features they will document.
Above: Cindy Evans (left), the Artemis geology training lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, appears alongside NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch, as they study geologic features in Iceland during Artemis II crew geology training in August 2024 (Image Credit: Robert Markowitz / NASA-JSC).
Other Artemis II Mission Objectives
CubeSats: A range of other scientific studies will during the Artemis II mission, which will enable further studies that will be undertaken remotely by several of NASA’s international partners around the world, which include the transport of CubeSats aboard Artemis II.
“Space agencies from Germany, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Argentina will fly CubeSats aboard Artemis II,” NASA’s Artemis II website states. “The CubeSats, which have their own distinct objectives from NASA’s primary mission of sending four astronauts around the Moon, will be deployed in high Earth orbit.”
“In addition to the CubeSats, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will conduct radiation research,” NASA’s statement reads.
Payload Management: While the Artemis II astronauts are hard at work in deep space, back on Earth at the Payload and Mission Operations Division at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, NASA’s flight control team will be continuously monitoring the crew’s progress, while also managing several additional science priorities aboard the spacecraft from the facility’s Lunar Utilization Control Area.
Real-Time Science Operations: Additionally, NASA will have a team specializing in the study of impact craters, lunar ice, tectonic activity, and volcanism on hand to provide real-time analysis and additional resources to the Artemis crew, all of which will be transmitted from the Science Evaluation Room located in the mission control facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Space Weather Studies: Since Artemis II will be carrying humans far beyond Earth’s magnetosphere, the magnetic bubble that shields our planet from potentially harmful space weather emanating from the Sun, scientists at NASA, as well as its partners at NOAA, will be offering ongoing space weather forecasting to the Artemis II mission manager, flight director, and console operators throughout the duration of the mission.
Earth’s aurora as seen from space (Image Credit: NASA).
Specifically, the NASA and NOAA teams will be watching for potential coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and solar flares, which have the potential to impact not only certain capabilities of the systems on board the spacecraft but also could potentially have a harmful impact on human health.
One Step Beyond
Once the official launch window for Artemis II has been determined, NASA will begin final preparations for launching the astronaut crew on its roughly 10-day mission from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
From there, the Artemis II crew will spend its first couple of days testing Orion’s systems, as well as undertaking a targeting demonstration while still close to Earth. From there, the team will begin their journey toward the Moon.
A burn from Orion’s European-built service module will propel the spacecraft into a four-day-long outbound trajectory, which will carry the Artemis II astronauts around the Moon’s far side on a figure-eight path that will extend more than 230,000 miles from Earth, and about 4,600 miles beyond the Moon at its farthest point.
Following the crew’s loop around the Moon, the mission will then enter a fuel-efficient free-return path that will rely on the gravitational properties of the Earth and the Moon to help bring Orion back home, which will eliminate any significant requirement for propulsion on the crew’s way home.
Official NASA portrait of the Artemis II astronauts (Image Credit: NASA).
In the final phase of their return, the crew will endure a high-speed, high-temperature reentry not unlike past crewed missions have undergone before they splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. There, recovery teams comprised of NASA and Department of Defense personnel will retrieve the Artemis II astronauts.
In the days ahead, NASA will provide ongoing details as its teams continue preparations for the forthcoming launch, marking a major leap for human space exploration in the twenty-first century, and the initiation of the Artemis Generation of crewed deep space missions to study the Moon and beyond.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.