Artemis II - Return to the Moon
ARTEMIS II
Humanity Returns to the Moon
April 1–10, 2026
Launch
April 1, 2026 — 6:35 PM EDT Kennedy Space Center, Florida
The Crew
Commander Reid Wiseman
Pilot Victor Glover
Mission Specialist Christina Koch
Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen (CSA)
Leaving Earth
252,706 miles from home. Farther than any human has ever traveled.
Closing In
Day 4. The far side appears.
Lunar Far Side
Vavilov Crater — the far side of the Moon. Terrain no human eye had ever seen.
Earthset
Earthrise. Again. For the first time in 53 years.
Eclipse
A solar eclipse — from the far side of the Moon. 54 minutes of totality.
Milky Way
The view from 200,000 miles out.
Mission Metrics
10,000 photos captured 700,237 miles flown 10 days in space
Splashdown
April 10, 2026 — 8:07 PM EDT Pacific Ocean, near San Diego. A perfect bullseye splashdown.
Recovery
Crew safely recovered by USS Portland All systems performed nominally Mission objectives achieved
Historic Achievement
First crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 Deepest human space mission in history Proven Orion spacecraft systems
What's Next
Artemis III: First lunar landing since 1972 South Pole landing site First woman on the Moon Target: 2027
The Journey Continues
This was just the flyby. Next: Artemis III — boots on the Moon.
Credit: NASA