NASA is aiming to launch the Artemis II mission as early as February 5, 2026, marking the first crewed flight beyond low-Earth orbit in over 50 years.

Axar.az reports that the 10-day mission will send four astronauts—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—on a loop around the Moon before returning to Earth.

The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is stacked and ready, and the Orion spacecraft is in final preparation. A key objective is testing Orion’s heat shield, which shed unexpected material during the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022. Engineers have adjusted the reentry profile to prevent a repeat.

Artemis II serves as a critical step toward Artemis III, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon’s south pole. NASA officials stress safety over speed but acknowledge a “second space race” with China to return humans to the lunar surface first.