NASA announced plans to send astronauts on a ten-day mission around the Moon in February 2026. This will be the first crewed lunar expedition in 50 years. This is reported by UNN with reference to BBC.
Details
It is noted that the Artemis II mission will be the second in the Artemis program, which involves landing people on the Moon and establishing a permanent presence on its surface. The crew will consist of four astronauts: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch from NASA, and Jeremy Hansen from the Canadian Space Agency.
According to the BBC, the astronauts will not land on the Moon, but will fly around it and travel a record distance - more than 9,200 km beyond its orbit. This will be the first human flight beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
The mission's goal is to test the rocket and spacecraft systems to prepare the ground for a Moon landing
During the flight, system checks, rendezvous maneuvers with the rocket's second stage, and medical experiments - including an analysis of the effects of microgravity and radiation at the cellular level - will be conducted.
After orbiting the Moon, the astronauts will begin a four-day journey home. The most dangerous phase is the Orion capsule's re-entry into Earth's atmosphere and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.
The success of Artemis II will determine the preparation for Artemis III, a mission that, for the first time since Apollo, is to land people on the Moon's surface. However, according to experts, even in an ideal scenario, this is unlikely to happen before mid-2027. The main challenge is the readiness of SpaceX's Starship, which is to deliver astronauts to the lunar surface and return them.
Recall
NASA's VIPER rover will search for volatile resources, such as ice, on the Moon's surface, collecting data for future research. Blue Origin will deliver VIPER to the Moon in late 2027 using the Blue Moon MK1 lander.
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