Artemis II
Artemis II is a planned lunar spaceflight mission under the Artemis program, led by NASA. It is intended to be the second flight of the Space Launch System, and the first crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft. It is both the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit and the first crewed mission around the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than February 8, 2026.
The 10-day mission will carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, on a free-return trajectory around the Moon and back to Earth. Glover will become the first person of color, Koch the first woman, and Hansen the first non-American to leave low Earth orbit and to travel around the Moon. The flight is set to take the crew farther from Earth than any previous human mission, before reentering Earth's atmosphere at a record speed of approximately.
Artemis II was originally designated Exploration Mission-2 and was initially intended to support the now-canceled Asteroid Redirect Mission. Its objectives were revised following the establishment of the Artemis program.
History
Mission planning and the launch date selection (2017–2021)
In 2017, Exploration Mission-2 was a projected single-launch mission of a Space Launch System Block 1B rocket with an Exploration Upper Stage, lunar Block 1 Orion spacecraft, and a payload insertion of. The plan was to rendezvous with an asteroid previously placed in lunar orbit by the robotic Asteroid Redirect Mission and have astronauts perform spacewalks and gather samples. After the cancellation of the Asteroid Redirect Mission in April 2017, an 8-day mission was proposed with a crew of four astronauts, sent on a free-return trajectory around the Moon. Another proposal suggested in 2017 was to take four astronauts aboard Orion on an 8-to-21–day trip around the Moon to deliver the first element of the Deep Space Gateway. In March 2018, it was decided to launch the first Gateway module on a commercial launch vehicle because of delays in building the Mobile Launcher needed to hold the more powerful Exploration Upper Stage. The launcher was selected to be the SpaceX Falcon Heavy.Hardware development, testing and integration (2021–present)
On February 11, 2023, NASA rotated the Artemis II core stage's engine section to a horizontal position, marking the final major milestone before integration with the rest of the vehicle. On March 20, the engine section was mated with the core stage in Building 103 at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Louisiana. NASA initially expected to deliver the completed core stage to Kennedy Space Center in summer 2023, but by May, the timeline had shifted to late autumn 2023.RS-25 engines with serial numbers E2047, E2059, E2062, and E2063 were installed on the core stage in New Orleans by September 25, 2023. However, after a leak was discovered in its oxygen valve hydraulics, engine E2063 was replaced with E2061 in April 2025.
In June 2024, NASA announced that the fully outfitted core stage was scheduled for delivery to KSC in July, which was successfully carried out from the 16th to the 25th. The adapters required for integration of the full launch vehicle also reached substantial completion in June 2024 and arrived at KSC in September 2024.
The Artemis II crew was announced on April 3, 2023, by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson during his "State of NASA" address at a NASA facility at Ellington Field outside Houston, Texas, and the crew made a public appearance that evening at nearby NRG Stadium during the 2023 March Madness basketball championship game.
File:Artemis II Orion Solar Array Wings Installed.jpg|thumb|Orion spacecraft Integrity and its European Service Module for the Artemis II mission being prepared in March2025
NASA had originally targeted September 2024 to begin rocket stacking operations. However, the schedule was delayed by more than two months due to investigations into issues with Orion's life support system and unexpected damage to Orion's heat shield observed after the Artemis I reentry. Rocket stacking finally began on November 20, 2024. Stacking was completed on October 20, 2025, with the installation of the fully integrated Orion, ESM, and launch abort system atop the SLS rocket.
On January 18, 2026, the SLS rocket, Orion capsule, and launch tower were rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Complex 39B.
Launch date
During preliminary reviews in 2011, the launch date was placed somewhere between 2019 and 2021, but afterwards the launch date was delayed to 2023. In January 2024, the mission was expected to launch in September 2025. However, in October 2024, the NASA Office of Inspector General determined that the Exploration Ground Systems team had exhausted their time reserved for resolving any unforeseen issues, leading the office to determine that the September 2025 launch date would likely be delayed. In December 2024, outgoing administrator Nelson announced that the launch was delayed due to the months of engineering investigations into issues with the life support system and heat shield, but they were targeting a launch in April 2026.In March 2025, AmericaSpace reported that the launch date might be accelerated by two months to February 2026. NASA responded in a statement, saying it could not confirm the revised date but noted, "We're looking for ways to enable an earlier launch if possible, potentially launching as soon as February 2026. A February target allows the agency to capitalize on efficiencies in the flow of operations to integrate the SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, and supporting ground systems while maintaining crew safety as the top priority." By August 2025, more mainstream outlets such as NASASpaceflight, journalist Eric Berger and US Senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly also reported that the mission had been moved to February 2026. In September, space agency officials announced that they were pursuing a launch window that opens on February 5, 2026.
For the launch of lunar missions, there are both monthly windows of a few days duration each lunar month, and daily windows lasting a few hours on days within the monthly window. The revised Artemis II plan, which calls for Orion to conduct a shorter skip reentry, further constrains the days within a monthly window during which a launch can be conducted.
The earliest launch window for Artemis II opens on February 5–11, 2026. The January 2026 North American winter storm has delayed preparations for the launch. As of January 30, 2026, Artemis II will launch no earlier than February 8.
A dress rehearsal of the countdown is planned for February 2. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has stated that an actual launch date will only be confirmed after that is complete.
Heat shield concerns
Following the uncrewed Artemis I mission in November 2022, NASA identified unexpected erosion of the Orion spacecraft's ablative heat shield after atmospheric reentry. Post-flight inspections found areas of char loss in the AVCOAT ablative material, in which portions of the material eroded more extensively than predicted by preflight models. NASA reported that temperatures within the crew module remained within design limits, but the unanticipated behavior prompted further analysis. Close-up imagery of the damage was not publicly released until May 2024, when it appeared in a report by the NASA Office of Inspector General.In April 2024, NASA established an independent review team to assess the heat shield performance and the agency's proposed approach for the Artemis II mission. The review concluded in December 2024, after which NASA announced it would proceed with Artemis II using the existing heat shield. NASA held a press briefing to outline its findings, but the publicly released version of the review team's report was heavily redacted, prompting criticism from some former NASA engineers and astronauts regarding the level of disclosure.
NASA engineers determined that the char loss observed during Artemis I was caused by gases becoming trapped within the AVCOAT material, leading to cracking and localized material loss during reentry. Rather than replacing the heat shield for Artemis II, NASA elected to modify the reentry trajectory by increasing the descent angle, reducing the time the spacecraft would spend in the thermal environment associated with the damage. According to NASA, modeling and ground testing indicated this change would limit further char loss while remaining within structural and thermal margins.
As part of the certification process for Artemis II, NASA conducted additional testing and analysis, including evaluations of scenarios involving more extensive heat shield damage. NASA stated that these analyses showed the underlying structure of the Orion capsule would remain intact and capable of protecting the crew under conditions exceeding those expected during the mission reentry.
In January 2026, Isaacman stated that he supported proceeding with Artemis II using the existing heat shield after reviewing the agency's analysis and meeting with engineers and outside experts. Some participants who had previously expressed concerns indicated that the additional data addressed their questions, while others continued to object to flying the mission without a redesigned heat shield. NASA has stated that design changes addressing AVCOAT permeability are planned for the heat shield intended for Artemis III.