With NASA’s Artemis II mission about to launch, we stand at the threshold of Artemis ushering in a new era of space exploration. This exciting mission is scheduled to launch in early March or April of 2024. It’ll be a little more than 10 days long and will fly four astronauts a greater distance into deep space than any humans have ever flown. This crew will help establish a sustainable program of human landings on and exploration of the Moon. They will further enable a sustained human presence in the vicinity of the Moon.
The Artemis II mission represents the first crewed flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft. The first four astronauts to join in this incredible journey are Jeremy Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Reid Wiseman. They will be living in a small space of roughly nine cubic meters for the duration of the mission. They will be flying a figure-of-eight trajectory that takes them beyond the Moon to bring them safely home.
While in the mission, the crew will be checking out the critical systems of the Orion spacecraft. You’ll be checking out the life-support, propulsion, power and navigation systems. All of this will take place as you journey to a destination 1000s of km past the Moon. The astronauts will serve as the medical guinea pigs. Their critical information and images from the farthest reaches of our universe will inform future exploratory missions.
Once Artemis II is in the history books, that mission will have confirmed the exploration capabilities of Orion. It’s a crucial step towards the first human landing on the surface of the Moon in over half a century. Following Artemis II, NASA will begin to accelerate its Moon return. They are continuing plans to build the Gateway, a small space station that would orbit the Moon. Upcoming missions, such as Artemis IV and V, will focus on constructing this essential infrastructure for sustained human presence in lunar orbit.
The Artemis II launch window is relatively narrow due to the Moon’s orbit. For instance, each month, the first week or so provides a golden opportunity for the perfect launch window. We’re down to just a handful of possible launch dates. They’re March 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11, as well as April 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
