Maypril Edition 2026: The Artemis II Mission: A New Era in Space Exploration

On December 14, 1972 two astronauts named Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt would be the last humans to set foot on the moon for over fifty years. However it likely won't be another fifty until humanity touches the lunar surface again because just a few weeks ago, on April 1st, NASA launched Orion from the Artemis II Mission into space. The mission is a 10-day crewed lunar flyby managed by NASA, and although they did not land on the moon, this mission acts as a precursor for potential future lunar surface missions, as it is designed to test life-support systems, navigation, and human performance in deep space before NASA attempts a lunar landing with Artemis III. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t significant. In fact, the Artemis ll Mission brought humanity farther away from Earth than we have ever been, setting a new record of 252,756 miles. 

Crew 

The crew consisted of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. Reid Wiseman is a fifty-one-year-old pilot, ex-navy veteran, and engineer. He received his bachelor's degree in computer and systems engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and his master in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University. In 2009, NASA announced his selection as one of nine candidates from 3,500 applicants to begin astronaut training, and seventeen years later, he became one of four humans to travel farther in space than ever before. 

Another one of the four crewmembers is Victor Glover. His full name is Victor J. Glover Jr., and he earned his bachelor’s degree in general engineering from California Polytechnic State University in 1999, along with several more advanced degrees later in his career. He was selected to join NASA as an astronaut in 2013 while working as a Legislative Fellow in the U.S. Senate. He piloted the SpaceX Crew-1 mission and served as a flight engineer on Expedition 64 and Expedition 65 aboard the International Space Station.

Jeremy Hansen is a bachelor of science in space science, master of science in physics, and is the first Canadian to fly around the moon. He was selected by the Canadian Space Agency in 2009, trained as an astronaut, and later worked in Mission Control as a capcom communicating with the International Space Station (ISS).

He also trained new recruits in a NASA astronaut class, which means that he is in charge of training astronaut candidates from the United States and Canada.

Kristian Kroch earned her Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical engineering and physics, and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering at North Carolina State University. She served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station during Expeditions 59, 60, and 61, where she helped conduct hundreds of science experiments. In 2019, she also spent 328 days in space (a record for women) and took part in the first all-female spacewalks. 

Planning

The Artemis II was originally planned as a follow-up to Artemis I, with NASA announcing the first crew in April 2023 and targeting a launch “no later than” 2024. This date, however, was pushed back to 2025–2026 as testing continued. The plan was for a four-astronaut crew (Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen) to launch from Kennedy Space Center inside the Orion spacecraft, depart from Earth's atmosphere, then fly around the Moon before returning back to Earth.

However, the timeline faced several roadblocks. After Artemis I launched in November 2022, engineers found issues such as rapid heat shield erosion and other performance errors that required extra analysis to combat in 2023-2024. There were also delays in developing and testing Orion’s life-support systems and software upgrades needed for humans. As a result, NASA repeatedly shifted Artemis II from late 2024 to 2025, and eventually to 2026 to ensure safety, making it clear the mission would only fly once all systems were fully equipped for human space travel.

The Mission

After the systems were set up the astronauts were officially ready to be launched into space. The Artemis II officially launched on April 1, 2026 from Kennedy Space Center aboard the Space Launch System, carrying astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen inside the Orion spacecraft. After launch, the crew spent about a day in Earth orbit checking systems, then performed a burn to leave Earth’s orbit and begin their journey toward the Moon. 

Around April 6, 2026, Orion passed behind the Moon, completing a lunar flyby where the crew went farther from Earth than any humans in history, about 252,756 miles away, breaking the record set on the Apollo 13 mission.

During the flyby, the astronauts experienced a short communications blackout while passing behind the Moon and they captured images of the lunar far side. After the flyby, the spacecraft used the Moon’s gravity to slingshot back toward Earth and the mission then concluded with a Pacific Ocean splashdown on April 10, 2026, where the crew safely returned after roughly 10-day mission, successfully proving Orion and the Space Launch System could support human deep-space travel.

Future Plans

Now that the Artemis II crew has returned, NASA will carefully analyze the data collected throughout the mission. Engineers and scientists will use this information to identify any weaknesses, and improve safety before the next Artemis mission.

All of these improvements will directly shape Artemis III, which is planned to land astronauts on the lunar surface. The Artemis II data will help NASA finalize logistics so that Artemis III can safely carry out a lunar landing and begin longer-term exploration. Artemis II marks a new era for space-exploration and it paves the way for many future scientific discoveries.