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Artemis 2 could launch as soon as February 2026, NASA says



After the successful Artemis 1 uncrewed flight around the moon in 2022, Artemis 2 is the next step in humanity’s journey from the moon to Mars. This mission will be the Artemis program’s first crewed mission, with 4 astronauts flying around the moon in 10 days. This flight will confirm the systems and hardware necessary for human deep space travel. Artemis II is scheduled for no later than April 2026. NASA provided an Artemis 2 mission update on September 23, 2025. Watch it again above.

Artemis 2 could launch as soon as February 2026

NASA said on September 23, 2025, that the Artemis 2 mission, which would send a crew around the moon, could happen as early as February 2026. The timeline also says the launch will happen no later than April 2026. This is after the mission was pushed back from its September 2025 launch last year.

The following mission, Artemis 3 – which will be the first mission to return humans to the moon since the Apollo missions of the 1960s and ’70s – was slated for September 2026. It has been delayed until mid-2027.

The Artemis 2 crew also named their Orion spacecraft on September 24, 2025. The crew picked the name Integrity and said that it:

… embodies the foundation of trust, respect, candor, and humility across the crew and the many engineers, technicians, scientists, planners, and dreamers required for mission success. The name is also a nod to the extensive integrated effort – from the more than 300,000 spacecraft components to the thousands of people across the world – that must come together to venture to the moon and back, inspire the world, and set course for a long-term presence at the moon.

Artemis: Cloudy sky over enormous building with American flag and NASA logo. A huge orange cylinder lying next to it, with tiny people.
Back in July, the Artemis 2 moon rocket core (orange, lying horizontally), could be seen in front of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Scientists and engineers had been at work inside the VAB through the late summer and fall, preparing for Artemis 2’s September 2025 launch. Image via Greg Diesel Walck for EarthSky.

When will Artemis reach the moon?

The goal of Artemis is to return astronauts (including the first woman and first person of color) to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. The program is in some sense a stepping stone mission. Ultimate goals include a lunar base and human missions to Mars.

Artemis 1 successfully completed its mission in 2022 with an uncrewed test flight that orbited the moon. Artemis 2 is to be the first crewed mission to orbit the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis 3 is to return humans to the lunar surface.

And Artemis 4, another mission to take humans to the moon, was supposed to follow no earlier than September 2028. Of the four missions, Artemis 4 is the most ambitious. Its goals include:

  • Multiple launches and spacecraft dockings in lunar orbit.
  • Delivering an International Habitation (I-Hab) module to the Gateway space station in lunar orbit.
  • Landing two astronauts on the moon, where they will spend a week collecting samples, conducting science experiments, rover operations, and moon walks.
A spacecraft in the foreground, and the moon in the background.
Here’s NASA’s uncrewed Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft capturing a selfie as it flew near the moon in November 2022. Image via NASA.

The astronauts who will circle the moon with Artemis

The four Artemis 2 astronauts have already been chosen and were announced on April 3, 2023. They are Christina Hammock Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Jeremy Hansen. Learn more about them below.

Christina Koch

Jeremy Hansen

Victor Glover

Reid Wiseman

The vision of the Artemis program

Ultimately, the Artemis program aims to send the first humans back to the moon this decade. When they go, they’ll be aiming for the moon’s south pole, a place that scientists have discovered in recent decades has large amounts of water ice. Water contains oxygen, so processing it will make it possible for future astronauts to stay longer.

Someday, visionaries still hope, we will have a permanent presence on the moon. And we will go to Mars.

Indeed, such dreams are an integral part of humanity’s natural wanderlust in the 21st century. And so future historians might look back at our time – and at the Artemis missions – as the moment humanity took a true giant leap to space, maybe this time for good.

Bottom line: On September 23, 2025 NASA announced that Artemis 2 – which will send a crew around the moon – could launch as early as February 2026 and no later than April 2026.

Read more: New NASA moon suit makes its debut

The post Artemis 2 could launch as soon as February 2026, NASA says first appeared on EarthSky.



from EarthSky https://ift.tt/sUDdqb2


After the successful Artemis 1 uncrewed flight around the moon in 2022, Artemis 2 is the next step in humanity’s journey from the moon to Mars. This mission will be the Artemis program’s first crewed mission, with 4 astronauts flying around the moon in 10 days. This flight will confirm the systems and hardware necessary for human deep space travel. Artemis II is scheduled for no later than April 2026. NASA provided an Artemis 2 mission update on September 23, 2025. Watch it again above.

Artemis 2 could launch as soon as February 2026

NASA said on September 23, 2025, that the Artemis 2 mission, which would send a crew around the moon, could happen as early as February 2026. The timeline also says the launch will happen no later than April 2026. This is after the mission was pushed back from its September 2025 launch last year.

The following mission, Artemis 3 – which will be the first mission to return humans to the moon since the Apollo missions of the 1960s and ’70s – was slated for September 2026. It has been delayed until mid-2027.

The Artemis 2 crew also named their Orion spacecraft on September 24, 2025. The crew picked the name Integrity and said that it:

… embodies the foundation of trust, respect, candor, and humility across the crew and the many engineers, technicians, scientists, planners, and dreamers required for mission success. The name is also a nod to the extensive integrated effort – from the more than 300,000 spacecraft components to the thousands of people across the world – that must come together to venture to the moon and back, inspire the world, and set course for a long-term presence at the moon.

Artemis: Cloudy sky over enormous building with American flag and NASA logo. A huge orange cylinder lying next to it, with tiny people.
Back in July, the Artemis 2 moon rocket core (orange, lying horizontally), could be seen in front of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Scientists and engineers had been at work inside the VAB through the late summer and fall, preparing for Artemis 2’s September 2025 launch. Image via Greg Diesel Walck for EarthSky.

When will Artemis reach the moon?

The goal of Artemis is to return astronauts (including the first woman and first person of color) to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. The program is in some sense a stepping stone mission. Ultimate goals include a lunar base and human missions to Mars.

Artemis 1 successfully completed its mission in 2022 with an uncrewed test flight that orbited the moon. Artemis 2 is to be the first crewed mission to orbit the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis 3 is to return humans to the lunar surface.

And Artemis 4, another mission to take humans to the moon, was supposed to follow no earlier than September 2028. Of the four missions, Artemis 4 is the most ambitious. Its goals include:

  • Multiple launches and spacecraft dockings in lunar orbit.
  • Delivering an International Habitation (I-Hab) module to the Gateway space station in lunar orbit.
  • Landing two astronauts on the moon, where they will spend a week collecting samples, conducting science experiments, rover operations, and moon walks.
A spacecraft in the foreground, and the moon in the background.
Here’s NASA’s uncrewed Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft capturing a selfie as it flew near the moon in November 2022. Image via NASA.

The astronauts who will circle the moon with Artemis

The four Artemis 2 astronauts have already been chosen and were announced on April 3, 2023. They are Christina Hammock Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Jeremy Hansen. Learn more about them below.

Christina Koch

Jeremy Hansen

Victor Glover

Reid Wiseman

The vision of the Artemis program

Ultimately, the Artemis program aims to send the first humans back to the moon this decade. When they go, they’ll be aiming for the moon’s south pole, a place that scientists have discovered in recent decades has large amounts of water ice. Water contains oxygen, so processing it will make it possible for future astronauts to stay longer.

Someday, visionaries still hope, we will have a permanent presence on the moon. And we will go to Mars.

Indeed, such dreams are an integral part of humanity’s natural wanderlust in the 21st century. And so future historians might look back at our time – and at the Artemis missions – as the moment humanity took a true giant leap to space, maybe this time for good.

Bottom line: On September 23, 2025 NASA announced that Artemis 2 – which will send a crew around the moon – could launch as early as February 2026 and no later than April 2026.

Read more: New NASA moon suit makes its debut

The post Artemis 2 could launch as soon as February 2026, NASA says first appeared on EarthSky.



from EarthSky https://ift.tt/sUDdqb2
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