The First Artemis Journey Around the Moon

Humanity is preparing to return to the Moon through NASA’s Artemis program, a new era of exploration designed to extend human presence beyond Earth. The first mission to travel around the Moon is Artemis II, which will send astronauts on a historic journey beyond low Earth orbit for the first time in more than fifty years.

Launched aboard the powerful Space Launch System, the crew will travel in the Orion spacecraft, a capsule designed specifically for long-distance human spaceflight. After reaching orbit, Orion will fire its engines to begin a multi-day journey toward the Moon.

Rather than landing, Artemis II will perform a lunar flyby. The spacecraft will swing around the far side of the Moon, using the Moon’s gravity to slingshot back toward Earth. During the mission, astronauts will test Orion’s life-support systems, navigation, and communications while observing the lunar surface from only a few thousand kilometers away.

The flight will mark the first time since Apollo program missions of the 1960s and 1970s that humans venture this far from Earth. Its success will pave the way for later Artemis missions that aim to land astronauts near the Moon’s south pole and eventually build a sustained human presence in lunar orbit and on the surface.

If all goes according to plan, Artemis II will demonstrate that humanity is once again ready to explore deep space—opening the door to future missions not only to the Moon, but eventually to Mars and beyond.