Kai — Artemis II

Crew — Orion CM-003 "Integrity"

Commander

Reid Wiseman

NASA · 2nd spaceflight

Navy test pilot. 165 days aboard ISS (Expedition 41). Led the Astronaut Office before Artemis II assignment.

Pilot

Victor Glover

NASA · 2nd spaceflight

First person of color beyond low Earth orbit

Navy fighter pilot. Flew on Crew Dragon Resilience (SpaceX Crew-1). 168 days aboard ISS.

Mission Specialist 1

Christina Koch

NASA · 2nd spaceflight

First woman beyond low Earth orbit

Electrical engineer. Holds the record for longest single spaceflight by a woman — 328 days. Conducted first all-female spacewalk.

Mission Specialist 2

Jeremy Hansen

CSA (Canada) · 1st spaceflight

First non-American beyond low Earth orbit

CF-18 fighter pilot. Canadian Space Agency astronaut since 2009. CAPCOM for multiple ISS missions.

Mission Timeline — ~10 Days

T+0:00:00

Launch

SLS Block 1, Kennedy Space Center LC-39B. 39.1 MN (8.8M lbf) of thrust.

T+0:08:30

LEO Parking Orbit

Core stage separation. Orion + ICPS in low Earth orbit (~185 km).

T+~1:55:00

Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI)

ICPS upper stage fires — delta-v 3.1 km/s. Orion departs for the Moon.

Day 1–4

Trans-Lunar Coast

384,400 km outbound journey. Systems checkout, crew adapts to deep space.

Day ~4

Lunar Flyby (Far Side)

Closest approach: 6,513 km from the lunar far side. ~40 min communications blackout behind the Moon. No orbit insertion — free-return trajectory.

Day 4–9

Free Return Coast

Lunar gravity bends the path homeward. No engine burn required — the geometry does the work.

Day ~10

Reentry

~40,000 km/h — fastest crewed reentry ever. Direct steep entry profile (skip reentry eliminated after Artemis I heat shield analysis). Heat shield temps reach 2,760 °C.

Day ~10

Splashdown

Pacific Ocean near San Diego. Four humans return from the Moon.

Mission Parameters

VehicleSLS Block 1 + Orion CM-003 "Integrity"

Service moduleEuropean Service Module (ESM-2)

Launch siteKennedy Space Center LC-39B

Launch timeApril 1, 2026 · 22:24 UTC

Mission duration~10 days

Earth-Moon distance384,400 km

Closest lunar approach6,513 km (far side)

Max distance from Earth~432,000 km

TLI delta-v3.1 km/s

Reentry speed~40,000 km/h (Mach 32)

Reentry profileDirect steep entry

Heat shield temp2,760 °C

SLS thrust39.1 MN (8.8M lbf)

Far-side blackout~40 minutes

SplashdownPacific Ocean, near San Diego

CrewWiseman · Glover · Koch · Hansen

Free-return trajectory: if engines fail after TLI, lunar gravity naturally returns the crew to Earth. Apollo 13 (1970) is the only crewed mission that relied on this — and survived. The skip reentry technique tested on Artemis I was dropped after post-flight analysis revealed unexpected heat shield erosion; Artemis II will use a direct steep entry instead.