Four Astronauts Set for NASA’s First Crewed Moon Mission in 50 Years

The last time the US sent astronauts to the Moon was Apollo 17 in 1972. After more than half a century, NASA is getting ready to do it again. Artemis II, the agency’s first mission in the Artemis era, will send four astronauts on a 10-day loop around the Moon to demonstrate that its new rocket and crew capsule can carry humans to lunar orbit and return them safely to Earth. NASA was looking at an early February launch, but after a liquid-hydrogen leak during a late-stage test, the agency is now looking at launch opportunities before March, with additional windows in April if needed.

The crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen—will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida inside NASA’s Orion capsule atop the Space Launch System, the agency’s heavy-lift Moon rocket. They will take off from Launch Complex 39B, one of Kennedy’s stairwell pads, which previously supported Apollo 10 and the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz missions. Next door, Launch Complex 39A—used during the Apollo and later space shuttles—is now used for NASA’s regular SpaceX Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Station.

Wiseman will command the mission, Glover as pilot and Koch and Hansen as mechanics. All four are veteran aviators, and three have already flown in space: Wiseman is a former NASA astronaut and a former chief of the Astronaut Office. Glover flew on SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station, and Koch spent 328 days in orbit, becoming the longest single spaceflight by a woman. Hansen, a Royal Canadian Air Force Colonel and Canadian Space Agency astronaut, will be the first Canadian to walk on the moon. With Koch and Glover aboard, Artemis II will also mark the first time a woman and a colored man will fly on a lunar mission.

Artemis program

Artemis—named after Apollo’s twin in Greek mythology as a nod to the Apollo era—is NASA’s plan to return astronauts to the Moon and form a base for deep space exploration. Today’s program began under President Donald Trump. In late 2017, the White House ordered NASA, led by director Charles Bolden, to return humans to the Moon as a stepping stone to long-distance missions, and the agency quickly consolidated its lunar efforts under the Artemis banner. The program is now led by NASA administrator Jared Isaacman, a fintech entrepreneur and private astronaut.

Congressional funding is what keeps the program going for years. NASA’s Office of the Inspector General has estimated the cost of the Artemis mission to be $93 billion in fiscal year 2025. For fiscal year 2026, lawmakers approved $24.4 billion for NASA, including $7.8 billion for exploration—including $2.3 billion for the Space Launch System, about $1.4 billion for the Orion Land program and $1.4 billion for the Cressule System.

NASA last tested the rocket-and-capsule system during Artemis I, an uncharted mission that flew in late 2022 that showed the spacecraft could travel to the moon and return safely. Artemis II will follow the same route, but with astronauts on board, to prove that the “human” side of the system works as intended – life support, communication and procedures used by the crew and flight controllers from launch through recovery.

The most critical test of the equipment comes at the end. Returning to the Moon requires re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere much faster than normal crew work in low Earth orbit. Orion must survive extreme heat and pressure during reentry before deploying its parachutes for a controlled descent and recovery.

The program is designed to progress in stages. Artemis I confirmed the basic flight profile without astronauts. Artemis II repeats it with the group. Artemis III is planned to be the first lunar landing of the Artemis era crew and is currently targeted for no earlier than 2028. Artemis IV and V are intended to support longer stays and more infrastructure, with increasing commercial involvement as missions grow in complexity.

The biggest rocket ever made

All of those programs depend on the rocket at the heart of the program: the Space Launch System. SLS is NASA’s heaviest vehicle for deep-space missions. In its current “Block 1” configuration, it is about 322 feet long, produces about 8.8 million pounds at takeoff—about 15 percent larger than the Saturn V used during Apollo—and can send about 27 metric tons to the Moon.

The SLS is designed for rare but powerful space flights, putting it in a different category from rockets designed for regular trips to Earth orbit. SpaceX’s new Starship plan is designed to be bigger on paper. The Starship is approximately 397 feet long, is intended to generate approximately 17 million pounds at liftoff, and is powered by a payload of approximately 150 metric tons to rotate in a fully reusable configuration. It is still in development and testing.

Before Artemis II can fly, NASA must complete a final launch and confidence test on the fully assembled vehicle. In early February, the agency conducted a full propellant loading test—an end-to-end fuel run that is used to verify ground systems and calculation procedures. A liquid-hydrogen leak, however, curtailed the effort before the teams could complete the full sequence. NASA said it is repairing and retesting the affected hardware and updating test data as it works toward a launch opportunity before March.

Landing on the Moon

For the final landing on the Moon, NASA relied on commercial suppliers rather than building its own habitat. The agency chose SpaceX in 2021 for the first Human Landing System contract, worth $2.89 billion, and added Blue Origin in 2023 under the $3.4 billion contract for Artemis V. NASA said the second award was intended to introduce competition and provide an option to support a capability not developed in-house.

Both farmers are still developing. NASA said SpaceX must complete major demonstrations—such as proving the performance of key spacecraft in orbit and an unplanned moon landing—before astronauts depend on the program. Blue Origin, for its part, has said it is prioritizing its lunar program and pausing the New Shepard space tourism flights to focus on services, with a robotic “Blue Moon” mission planned as part of that effort.

The Artemis program takes place between renewed lunar desires elsewhere. China has said it aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030, and recent robotic missions—including the arrival of India’s Chandrayaan-3 in 2023—have underscored how crowded and competitive lunar exploration has become.