NASA targets February 2026 for Artemis II moon mission

NASA has announced it could launch the Artemis II mission as early as February 2026, sending four astronauts on a ten-day journey around the Moon, the first crewed deep-space mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.

The mission will test the Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule, which are nearly ready for flight, with safety remaining the top priority. Crew members Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will travel 5,000 nautical miles past the Moon—further than any astronauts have ever flown—before returning to Earth.

The flight will also serve as a key research opportunity, with experiments tracking the physical effects of deep space on the astronauts, including organoid studies grown from their blood.

Orion’s systems will be tested extensively, including manual thruster manoeuvres to simulate docking procedures for future missions. If successful, Artemis II will pave the way for Artemis III, the planned return of astronauts to the lunar surface, though experts warn NASA’s timeline of “no earlier than mid-2027” may be overly ambitious given technical and funding hurdles.