Artemis II: A Human Flyby of the Moon

Artemis II is NASA’s first crewed mission that has flown around the Moon since Apollo. The four-person crew, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, have been testing the Orion spacecraft while they take high-resolution photos of the lunar far side. The mission has collected observations that will be shared with scientists after the crew regains full communications.

During the flyby the spacecraft passed behind the Moon and mission control experienced a planned communications blackout that lasted about 40 minutes. While the crew worked in that blackout window, Orion reached its closest approach at roughly 4,070 miles above the surface and then reached its maximum distance from Earth at about 252,760 miles, a new human distance record. Although the crew proposed names for two new lunar craters, official naming will follow international rules.

The mission is designed as a flyby test and Orion will use a free-return trajectory to come home. Splashdown is scheduled on Flight Day 10 and the crew will be recovered at sea in the Pacific Ocean. The work done on this flight will help prepare for future lunar landings.