The first manned mission to the Moon in more than 50 years could take off as early as the first week of February.
The Artemis Two mission, which will last about ten days, could take astronauts further into space than anyone has ever done before.
Its goal is to prepare the ground for the potential landing of humans on the lunar surface for the first time since the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s.
When will Artemis Two launch?
NASA is expected to begin moving the giant Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the Orion Moon space capsule from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to the launch pad no later than Saturday, January 17th.
A six-kilometer journey on a crawler-transporter-2 will take up to 12 hours.
As soon as it arrives, engineers will begin a series of preparations to set up the launch pad, among them connecting ground support equipment such as electrical lines, fuel channels with an environmental control system, and a cryogenic propellant feed.
In late January, NASA will conduct a full-scale dress rehearsal, a pre-launch test of the rocket's fueling capabilities.
If there are any problems, NASA can return SLS and Orion to the Vehicle Assembly Building for additional work before launch.
But if all systems are functional, the earliest possible launch date will be Friday, February 6th.
In addition to the rocket's readiness, the Moon also has to be in the right place, so the series of launch windows is chosen accordingly.
In practice, this means a week at the beginning of each month during which the rocket is pointed in the right direction, followed by three weeks when there is no launch opportunity.
Launch opportunities are:
- February 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11
- 6, 7, 8, 9 i 11. mart i
- 1, 3, 4, 5. i 6. april
Who is on the Artemis Two crew and what will they do?
Artemis Two's four-member crew is NASA Commander Reed Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch.
Another mission specialist, Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency, will also be on board.
This mission marks the first crewed flight for SLS and Orion.
Once safely in orbit, astronauts will test how the Orion spacecraft holds up.
This will involve manually piloting the capsule in Earth orbit to practice steering and directing the spacecraft for future lunar landings.
They will then head to a point thousands of kilometers beyond the Moon to check Orion's life support, propulsion, power, and navigation systems.
The crew will also serve as medical test subjects, sending back data and images from deep space.
They will work in a small cabin in weightlessness.
Radiation levels will be higher than on the International Space Station, which is in low Earth orbit, but will still be safe.
Returning to Earth, the astronauts will experience a bumpy re-entry through the atmosphere and a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of America.
Will Artemis Two land on the Moon?
They won't.
This mission is to prepare the ground for the landing on the Moon of astronauts from the Artemis Three mission.
NASA says the launch of Artemis Three "will not happen before" 2027.
However, experts believe that the earliest possible date is 2028.
The final choice of spacecraft that will land the crew on the lunar surface has not yet been made.
It will be either SpaceX's Starship lander or a spacecraft being built by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
The new spacesuits being made by the American company Axiom are not yet complete.
When Artemis Three finally takes off, astronauts will head to the Moon's south pole.
The goal is then to ensure a prolonged human presence on the Moon.
Artemis Four and Five will begin building the Gateway, a small space station that will orbit the Moon.
This will be followed by more lunar landings, the attachment of additional parts to the Gateway, and new robotic rovers to work on the surface.
Multiple countries will participate in enabling humans to live and work on and around the Moon for extended periods of time.
When was the last mission to the Moon?
The last manned mission to the Moon was Apollo 17, which landed in December 1972 and returned to Earth later that month.
In total, 24 astronauts traveled to the Moon, and 12 of them walked on its surface, all during the Apollo program.
America first went in the 1960s, primarily to preempt the Soviet Union in establishing geopolitical and technological dominance.
Once that goal was achieved, political enthusiasm and public interest waned, as did funding for future flights to the Moon.
The Artemis program stemmed from the desire to return humans to the Moon, but this time for a longer presence based on new technology and commercial partnerships.
Are other countries planning to send astronauts to the Moon?
Several other countries have ambitions to send humans to the Moon in the 2030s.
European astronauts are set to join later Artemis missions, and Japan has also reserved seats.
China is building its own spacecraft, planning the first landing near the moon's south pole by 2030.
Russia continues to talk about sending cosmonauts to the surface of the Moon and building a small base sometime between 2030 and 2035.
However, sanctions, financial pressures and technical problems mean that this timetable is extremely optimistic.
India has also expressed the ambition to one day see its own astronauts walking on the surface of the Moon.
Following the successful landing of Chandrayaan 3 near the lunar south pole in August 2023, the Indian Space Agency has set itself the goal of sending astronauts to the Moon by around 2040.
It was part of her initiative to move the human spaceflight program beyond low Earth orbit.
Additional reporting by Kevin Church
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