NASA’s Artemis II mission is poised to become a landmark event in space exploration, marking the first crewed flight of the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft. In 2024, these thrilling firsts are scheduled to take off. Four astronauts will take off on an ambitious journey, going farther than any humans have traveled into space.
The crew for Artemis II includes notable astronauts: Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Jeremy Hansen. Christina Koch, a veteran of the International Space Station, was one of the stars of 2019. She went on to establish the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, spending almost 328 days on orbit. Victor Glover, who previously piloted SpaceX Crew-1, has an equally strong academic pedigree with three master’s degrees under his belt. For Reid Wiseman, 27 years of service in the U.S. Navy has included human spaceflight. Now, he’s set to make history again as the first Canadian to travel to the Moon. Completing the crew is Jeremy Hansen, a former fighter pilot and member of the Canadian Space Agency since 2009.
The eventual Artemis II mission will last roughly 10 days. It will take a distinct, figure-eight orbital trajectory around both the Earth and the Moon. Throughout their time in space, the astronauts will conduct various tests to determine how the new Orion spacecraft performs in orbit and collect invaluable data. They will be fodder for medical experimentation. These topics will send pictures and data back from the far reaches of space, allowing NASA to continue learning more about human spaceflight.
Artist’s concept of the Orion crew and service modules in space, NASA. Each of the two modules is just about the size of a typical studio apartment. The crew will live and work in approximately nine cubic meters of habitat for the duration of their journey. This challenging and truly inspirational mission continues to lay the groundwork for an exciting next era of lunar exploration. It would set the stage for a human landing on the Moon’s surface, something that hasn’t happened since the Apollo program of the 1960s and 70s.
Beyond Artemis II, NASA has committed to further Artemis exploration with Artemis IV and V missions eventually bringing us to a permanent presence on the moon. The next round of missions will be dedicated to constructing Gateway, a small space station that will orbit the Moon. To this end, this station will gain importance and promise as a future center for deep-space exploration.