Artemis II

Artemis II was the first crewed flight of NASA's Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.^[1] It carried four astronauts, three from NASA and one from the Canadian Space Agency, on a voyage of nearly 10 days around the Moon and back.^[1]

The flight

The SLS rocket launched Orion and its crew from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 1 April 2026.^[2] The crew traveled 252,756 miles from Earth, setting a record for the greatest distance humans have traveled in space, and saw parts of the lunar surface never before seen by human eyes.^[1]

The vehicles

SLS is a super heavy-lift rocket that uses solid rocket boosters derived from the space shuttle and liquid-fueled engines on a central core stage.^[2] Orion is designed to carry astronauts farther into deep space than ever before; its systems include life support, radiation protection and the world's largest heat shield, built to bring the crew safely home.^[2]

Why it mattered

As the first flight of Orion and SLS with people aboard, Artemis II was a key step toward a long-term return to the Moon and future missions to Mars.^[1][2] It is followed by Artemis III, a crewed test in Earth orbit planned for 2027, and Artemis IV, the first planned Artemis landing.^[1]