NASA just confirmed it: humans are returning to the Moon. Artemis II, the first crewed mission to leave Earth orbit since 1972, is officially scheduled to launch on February 6, 2026. The 10-day mission will carry four astronauts around the Moon — a critical step toward landing humans there again. The crew includes NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Koch will become the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit. Hansen will be the first Canadian on a lunar mission. Artemis II won’t land on the Moon, but it will test NASA’s new deep space systems. After liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the astronauts will orbit Earth, verify life-support systems, then fire Orion’s engines to slingshot around the Moon using lunar gravity. The spacecraft will follow a figure-eight trajectory that takes the crew over 230,000 miles from Earth before using a free-return path to coast back home — no fuel required. The mission ends with a high-speed reentry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. No human has traveled this far from Earth in over half a century. The last time was Apollo 17, in December 1972. Artemis II is a proving ground for Artemis III, scheduled for 2027, which will attempt the first crewed Moon landing of the 21st century. 📸Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

NASA just confirmed it: humans are returning to the Moon. Artemis II, the first crewed mission to leave Earth orbit since 1972, is officially scheduled to launch on February 6, 2026. The 10-day mission will carry four astronauts around the Moon — a critical step toward landing humans there again. The crew includes NASA astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Reid Wiseman, along with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. Koch will become the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit. Hansen will be the first Canadian on a lunar mission. Artemis II won’t land on the Moon, but it will test NASA’s new deep space systems. After liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the astronauts will orbit Earth, verify life-support systems, then fire Orion’s engines to slingshot around the Moon using lunar gravity. The spacecraft will follow a figure-eight trajectory that takes the crew over 230,000 miles from Earth before using a free-return path to coast back home — no fuel required. The mission ends with a high-speed reentry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. No human has traveled this far from Earth in over half a century. The last time was Apollo 17, in December 1972. Artemis II is a proving ground for Artemis III, scheduled for 2027, which will attempt the first crewed Moon landing of the 21st century. 📸Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani