On Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed mission toward establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through Artemis, four astronauts will go around the Moon.
Chief of Staff Reid Wiseman
Pilot Victor Glover is a mission expert. Jennifer Hammock Koch
Project Specialist Jonathan Hansen
The roughly 10-day flight will test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, the cornerstones of NASA’s human deep space exploration program, for the first time with astronauts and pave the way for lunar surface missions, including the landing of the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.
The service module for Orion, which was manufactured in Europe, will give the spaceship the powerful thrust it needs to leave Earth orbit and head for the Moon. The astronauts will travel around the far side of the Moon for about four days after this trans-lunar injection burn, where they will eventually form a figure eight that stretches more than 230,000 miles from Earth. The crew will travel a maximum of 6,400 kilometers beyond the Moon. The astronauts will carry on testing the spacecraft’s systems during the roughly four-day return voyage.
This fuel-efficient trajectory uses the Earth-Moon gravity field to propel itself back instead of needing it, ensuring that—after its voyage around the far side of the Moon-Orion will be pulled back naturally by Earth’s gravity for the free return portion of the mission.
The crew will endure the high-speed, high-temperature reentry through Earth’s atmosphere before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, where they will be met by a recovery team of NASA and Department of Defense personnel who will bring them back to shore.
