The sunrise casts a warm glow around the Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft at Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on March 21. (Image credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky) Artemis II is the first crewed spaceflight in NASA’s Artemis Program — a long-term campaign that aims to send humans back to the moon for the first time since 1972.
Launched into orbit by the 322-foot-tall (98 meters) Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule stack, the mission's four-astronaut crew will take a 10-day flight around the moon and back to Earth, testing key systems and studying the impact of spaceflight on human biology. The record-setting flight will send humans farther into space than ever before.
Following a major overhaul of the Artemis program in late February, NASA now aims to ramp its Artemis missions up to an annual tempo, with Artemis III — an Earth-orbit test of a lunar lander docking — falling in 2027. If successful, NASA will follow up with the Artemis IV and V missions, two crewed lunar landing attempts, in 2028. Stay tuned for updates to this developing spaceflight story.
Daily Roundup Monday, March 23, 2026: Your daily roundup of the biggest science stories making headlines.
