The Artemis II flight plan consists of several key phases.

NASA intends to send a lot of people to the moon-and to Mars-in the coming decade.

America’s last lunar venture went down in February 2024, when the US landed an unmanned lunar spacecraft called Odysseus near the moon’s south pole; its first in 50 years. Odysseus carried six NASA experiments and six commercial items, including a Jeff Koons sculpture.

NASA announced updates to the Artemis program, including phased lunar landings, increased commercial involvement, and new nuclear propulsion missions to support sustainable Moon operations.

Like the US, China is seeking allies to boost its lunar ambitions. Russia, South Africa, Pakistan, Egypt, Serbia, Belarus and Azerbaijan are among the countries that have backed its plan for an international lunar research station. China also has said it wants to launch crewed missions to Mars and build a permanently inhabited base there.

Artemis II astronauts will be looking at the Moon from a “unique perspective”, as they will be passing by at a much higher altitude compared to the Apollo missions.

NASA added a new mission to its Artemis moon program involving a spacecraft docking test in Earth's orbit before landing its first astronauts on the moon in over half a century, overhauling the flagship U.

NASA pauses the Lunar Gateway program to focus on building a multi-phase Moon base through the Artemis program.

Tonight, four astronauts will strap into a capsule on Florida's Space Coast and do something no human has done since 1972, leave Earth's orbit and head toward the Moon. NASA's Artemis II mission, targeting liftoff at 6:24 p.