(NewsNation) — The final months of training are underway for NASA‘s Artemis II mission crew, as they prepare to orbit the moon in early 2026.
“It’s been an amazing journey the last two and a half years and we really see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Reid Wiseman, Artemis II Commander said.
Earlier this week, NASA announced that mission could launch as early as February 5th, 2026. However, during a press conference Wednesday, Wiseman stressed that this was a test mission and that the actual launch date could vary depending conditions.
“I know this week NASA has said that we’re going to open the launch in early February and we just do not anchor on dates. We are going to launch when this vehicle is ready, this team is ready and we’re going to go execute this mission to the best of our abilities.”
The mission would mark the first time a NASA crew has returned to the moon in over 50 years. But much like the launch date, the mission hinges on flight conditions and coordination with mission control teams on earth.
“When we get off the planet, we might come right back home, we might spend three or four days around earth, we might go to the moon,” Wiseman said. “That’s where we want to go, but it is a test mission and we are ready for every scenario as we ride this amazing space launch system.”
NASA currently has the mission planned to last 10 days, with the crew’s Orion spacecraft, Integrity, scheduled to fly by the moon on the 6th day. While the crew is honored by the legacy that Artemis II is building on from the Apollo missions, Artemis II Pilot Victor Glover said his team is looking firmly toward the future.
“The race I think the most about is the relay race we are in. You know, there is a saying, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together,” Glover said. “And we are going together and our mission success is built on handing off a starting point to Artemis III that sets our country and our partners up to go back to the surface of the moon.”
While in space, the crew will be collecting extensive amounts of data and observations. During the mission, the spacecraft will actually deploy CubeSats from four different continents. These small satellites help collect data for universities.
“They are going to be studying things like space science, radiation, future communication systems and some of that technology development that’s so important,” Christina Koch, Artemis II Mission Specialist said.
As for their interaction with the moon, Koch said there is a potential for to see a side of it never before seen.
“We get to take three full hours undevoted to nothing other than observing the lunar surface. And depending on the time that we launch. Depending on the illumination of the far side of the moon, we hope it’s not the dark side, we hope it’s the lit far side. Because that could mean that we could see parts of the moon that have never had human eyes lay upon them before.”