NASA set to launch Artemis 2 moon mission today, the 1st crewed lunar flight since 1972

Watch live! NASA's Artemis 2 crew launches to the moon - YouTube

No fooling: Today is a huge day for NASA, human spaceflight and space fans around the world.

a rocket on a launch pad — The Artemis 2 mission's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft on the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Artemis 2 will use a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to send four astronauts — NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canada's Jeremy Hansen — on a 10-day trip around the moon and back to Earth in an Orion capsule.

No humans have ventured to lunar realms — or even beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) — since NASA's Apollo 17 moon-landing mission in December 1972.

All of the Apollo astronauts were also white American men, so Artemis 2 will make some demographic history as well: Glover, Koch and Hansen will become the first person of color, first woman and first non-American, respectively, ever to travel beyond LEO.

A diagram of the Artemis 2 mission plan. (Image credit: NASA)

As its name suggests, Artemis 2 will be the second mission in NASA's Artemis program of moon exploration. Artemis 1 sent an uncrewed Orion to lunar orbit and back in late 2022.

Like that previous mission, Artemis 2 is a test flight, designed to show that Orion is capable of supporting astronauts for an extended period in deep space. It will mark the capsule's crew-carrying debut and third spaceflight overall, after Artemis 1 and an uncrewed test mission to Earth orbit in 2014.

four people in blue flight suits in front of a rocket on a launch pad — The four astronauts of Artemis 2 pose in front of the mission's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft as they wait on the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA will notch yet more milestones on Artemis 3, a 2027 mission to Earth orbit that will test Orion's ability to dock with one or both of the Artemis program's crewed moon landers (SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon, both of which are still in development).

And, if all continues going to plan, NASA will land astronauts near the moon's south pole on Artemis 4, which is currently targeted for late 2028. The agency will keep sending crewed and robotic missions back to the area, building up a base and learning how to live and work far from Earth — knowledge that will help the agency make the next giant leap to Mars in the 2030s or 2040s, the thinking goes.

That sustained, increasingly ambitious activity will mark a big difference from the Apollo days. Back then, NASA just wanted to put boots on the moon before the Soviet Union did in order to demonstrate technological superiority over its space race rival. The big push was to put down flags and footprints, not build a base.

So, while today's launch will evoke Apollo for many viewers, it's really about the future — charting a path through deep space that humanity has not yet taken.

Michael Wall is the Spaceflight and Tech Editor for Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers human and robotic spaceflight, military space, and exoplanets, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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