Artemis II: The first human mission to the moon in 54 years launches soon

January 30, 2026 – 3:29 PM

The crew of the new NASA moon rocket Artemis II at the Kennedy Space Center, including Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency, on the far right. From left: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch. (NASA)

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It’s been 54 years since

the last Apollo mission

, and since then, humans have not ventured beyond low-Earth orbit. But that’s all about to change with next week’s launch of the

Artemis II

mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This is the first crewed flight of NASA’s Artemis program and the first time since 1972 that humans have ventured to the moon. Onboard is Canadian astronaut

Jeremy Hansen

I am a professor, an explorer and a planetary geologist. For the past 15 years, I have been helping to train Hansen and other astronauts in geology and planetary science. I am also a member of the

Artemis III Science Team

and the principal investigator for Canada’s first ever

rover mission

to the moon.

NASA’s Artemis II SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft secured to the mobile launcher at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

(NASA)

What will the mission achieve?

NASA’s

Artemis program

, launched in 2017, has the ambitious goal to return humans to the moon and to establish a lunar base in preparation for sending humans to Mars. The first mission,

Artemis I

some delays

, Artemis II is scheduled for launch as early as a week from now.

Onboard will be Hansen, along with his three American crew-mates.

This is an incredibly exciting mission. Artemis II is the first time humans have launched on NASA’s huge SLS (

Space Launch System

) rocket, and the first time humans have flown

in the Orion

spacecraft.

SLS is the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built, with the capability to send more than 27 metric tonnes of payload — equipment, instruments, scientific experiments and cargo — to the moon. The Orion spacecraft sits at the very top and is the crew’s ride to the moon. The Artemis II crew

named their Orion capsule Integrity

, a word they say embodies trust, respect, candour and humility.

An infographic produced by NASA showing the different parts of the Orion spacecraft.

(NASA)

What will Artemis II crew do in space?

there was no toilet on the Apollo missions

? Instead, the crews used “relief tubes.”

If everything looks good, the Artemis II will ignite what’s known as the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage — part of the SLS rocket still connected to Integrity — to elevate the spacecraft’s orbit. If things are still looking good, the Orion spacecraft and its four human travellers will spend 24 hours in a high-Earth orbit up to 70,000 kilometres away from the planet.

For comparison, the

International Space Station

orbits the Earth at a mere 400 kilometers.

Trans-Lunar Injection

The Artemis II mission’s 10-day ‘figure-eight’ trajectory.

(NASA)

“free-return trajectory”

after the TLI. What this means is that even if Integrity’s engines fail completely, the moon’s gravity will naturally loop the spacecraft around it and aim it towards Earth.

After the three-day journey to the moon, the crew will carry out perhaps the most exciting stage of the mission: lunar fly-by. Integrity will loop around the far side of the moon, passing anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 kilometres above its surface — much farther than any Apollo mission.

Star Trek

, at that most distant point, the Artemis II crew will have boldly gone where no (hu)man has gone before. This will be, quite literally, the farthest from Earth that any human being has ever travelled.

International effort to explore the moon

That a Canadian astronaut is part of the crew of Artemis II is a testament to the collaborative international nature of the Artemis program.

While NASA created the program and is the driving force, there are now 60 countries that have signed the

Artemis Accords

On Jan. 26, 2026, Oman became the 61st nation to sign the Artemis Accords.

(NASA)

The foundation for the Artemis Accords is the recognition that international co-operation in space is intended not only to bolster space exploration but to enhance peaceful relationships among nations. This is particularly necessary now — perhaps more than any other time since the Cold War.

first crewed Apollo mission

to the moon, once said:

Gordon Osinski

, Professor in Earth and Planetary Science,

Western University.

The Conversation

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