NASA targets February for first crewed Moon mission in 50 years

NASA plans the first crewed Moon mission in more than half a century for February, signaling a renewed push to return humans to the lunar surface. Artemis II, the second launch in the Artemis program, will carry four astronauts on a ten-day round trip to orbit the Moon and back to Earth. The mission will test the rocket and spacecraft systems in deep space ahead of a lunar landing that could come as early as 2027, officials said. The aim is to validate critical life-support, communications, navigation and propulsion systems on a crewed flight beyond the confines of low Earth orbit while paving the way for a landing on the Moon’s surface in the next phase of the program.

Four astronauts will travel aboard the Orion capsule atop the Space Launch System rocket: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of NASA, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency. They will not land on the Moon during Artemis II, but will become the first crew to travel beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. The mission marks a milestone in the human exploration of space, giving NASA the opportunity to test a new generation of spacecraft and a powerful new rocket in a real-world setting. We together have a front row seat to history. We're returning to the Moon after over 50 years, Lakiesha Hawkins, one of NASA’s acting deputy associate administrators, said at a briefing announcing the plan.

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The mission profile is tightly scripted to maximize safety while collecting data for future lunar operations. Liftoff will come from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, atop the Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket NASA has built. Two solid rocket boosters will provide the initial thrust and will jettison about two minutes after launch. Orion will then conduct a thorough series of pre-flight checks on life-support, communications and navigation systems before the crew experiences a Translunar Injection burn roughly 23 hours after liftoff, sending the spacecraft toward the Moon.

Over the next four days, Orion will travel more than 230,000 miles from Earth as it reaches a distant retrograde trajectory or a similar lunar transits path, depending on the mission design. The crew will monitor systems and perform onboard experiments while traveling around the Moon. After completing their loop, the spacecraft will return to Earth for a splashdown off the coast of California, with the service module separating from the crew module before atmospheric re-entry. The mission is designed to test the readiness of the SLS/Orion system and to validate crew safety and mission data that will inform Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts on the lunar surface.

During the journey, NASA plans to run experiments that will help scientists understand how space travel affects the human body. Scientists will grow tissue samples from the astronauts’ blood—organoids—both before and after the trip and compare them to assess the impact of microgravity and radiation. Dr. Nicky Fox, NASA’s head of science, explained that the organoid studies will provide a deeper look at how space environments influence human biology even when the crew cannot be dissected in real time. We want to be able to study in depth the effect of the microgravity and the radiation on these samples, Fox told BBC News. I’m certainly not going to dissect an astronaut, but I can dissect these little organoid samples and really look at the difference.

The Artemis II mission is the second launch in the Artemis program, which seeks to return humans to the Moon and establish a long-term presence there. The first Artemis mission, an uncrewed test flight in 2022, proved the concept of sending a spacecraft around the Moon and returning to Earth, although it revealed heatshield concerns that have since been addressed. Artemis II will build on that experience by putting a crew in the loop and validating operations in deep space before any landing attempts.

The long-term timeline remains a subject of debate among space researchers. Some experts caution that, even with a successful Artemis II, a lunar landing as soon as mid-2027 is an optimistic target. Dr Simeon Barber of the Open University said that the phrase no earlier than is familiar NASA language, and that the earliest possible landing would depend on a string of factors, not least the availability and reliability of SpaceX’s Starship to transport astronauts to and from the lunar surface. He noted that Starship has yet to achieve orbital flight and faced further challenges that could affect timelines and costs as NASA attempts to keep Artemis III on track. If Starship is delayed or unable to meet mission requirements, the timeline for landing on the Moon could slip.

Artemis III, the planned lunar landing mission, aims to place astronauts on the Moon’s surface and establish a sustained presence there. The current plan envisions Starship or another crewed lander delivering astronauts to the lunar surface, with Orion returning them to Earth. The success of Artemis II will influence NASA’s confidence in proceeding to Artemis III and how quickly it can secure a landing date. Even under ideal circumstances, observers say, developing the infrastructure to support a long-term lunar presence—habitats, sustained power, and science operations—will require substantial investment and near-term progress on multiple fronts.

With Artemis II serving as a crucial proving ground, NASA officials emphasize that a successful leap to a crewed lunar landing hinges on a mature, overlapping sequence of missions, budgets, and industry readiness. The agency has signaled that it will pursue a balanced approach that includes commercial partnerships for lunar lander development while maintaining rigorous safety and testing standards. The broader objective remains clear: to reestablish a human presence on the Moon, develop the capabilities to operate there for extended periods, and use lunar exploration as a stepping stone toward crewed missions to Mars and beyond.

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As NASA proceeds, the space community will be watching not only for a successful launch and flight but also for how well the systems perform under real conditions. The early data will feed into future vehicle design choices, mission planning, and international collaboration. The agency has emphasized that, despite the excitement around a February launch, the program’s long-term success will depend on meticulous testing, cost controls and continued progress on both hardware reliability and human factors research. The Artemis program, in its current form, is a multi-decade effort to expand human capabilities in deep space and to lay the groundwork for sustained exploration beyond the Moon.

The February mission thus represents more than a routine test flight. It is a test of NASA’s ability to execute complex, multinational spaceflight programs in the 2020s and beyond. It is a moment the agency hopes will reenergize public interest in space science while delivering practical knowledge that could hasten humanity’s return to the lunar surface and, eventually, its journey deeper into the solar system. As researchers and engineers calibrate and refine the systems that will carry astronauts through the void, the world watches to see whether Artemis II will deliver the confidence and capability needed to reach the next milestone: a successful lunar landing and a sustained, long-term human presence on the Moon.