Artemis II rocket mission to moon
Digest more
4 Exciting Space Missions Launch This Year Including NASA’s Return to Moon, Japan’s Jump to Mars
From a return of humans to lunar orbit, to Japan's first crack at Mars, advanced space travel and exploration is set to continue in 2026.
NASA's giant new moon rocket is moved to the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in anticipation of the first manned lunar mission since Apollo, which may launch next month.
NASA has unveiled its Artemis II spacecraft, Orion, which will soon carry a crew into orbit around the moon. Orion and its SLS rocket were rolled out at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday morning,
The goal of the Artemis program is to eventually send Americans to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, with the longer term goal of achieving missions to Mars. The launch of Artemis II follows the original Artemis launch, which sent a crewless craft into space in 2022.
NASA moved the rocket slated to carry four astronauts around the moon to the launch pad on Saturday, a key step as the Artemis II moon mission nears.
I n 2016, NASA launched the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) probe, which famously touched down on asteroid Bennu in 2020, before returning that sample back to Earth for analysis.