Artemis II: The First Crewed Lunar Flyby Mission of the Artemis Program

Artemis II was a crewed nine-day lunar flyby mission launched on April 1, 2026, marking the first crewed flight of the NASA-led Artemis program and the first crewed flight beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. The mission tested the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, and set the record for human distance from Earth. Artemis II was a crucial step towards returning humans to the lunar surface, with its objectives revised after the establishment of the Artemis program in 2017.