On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, NASA launched their Artemis II rocket to orbit the moon in the first manned space mission that has left Earth’s orbit since 1972 with Apollo 17. The flight path of the mission is to do two revolutions around the Earth, then “slingshot” around the dark side of the moon and come back home.
While doing their moon fly-by, “the Artemis II crew will work with scientists on Earth to facilitate science investigations to inform future human spaceflight missions,” according to NASA’s website.
The crew consists of four flight members:
- Reid Wiseman – Commander
- Victor Glover – Pilot
- Christina Koch – Mission Specialist
- Jerry Hansen – Mission Specialist
While the crew is behind the moon, they will also experience a total solar eclipse, as the moon will fully block their view of the sun.
This mission is one of many stepping stones NASA has planned to hopefully get humans living on the moon, and eventually even Mars! Some may wonder why it’s so important that we become able to live on the moon and Mars, and to that, the answer is that we need to expand our living space for our continuously growing population. Also, we can use the extra living area to grow more crops to support that increasing worldwide population.
