Artemis II launch date announced: Humanity returns to the Moon after 53 years

NASA has announced the date when humanity will return to the Moon after over 50 years. The Artemis II mission will take off with four astronauts on board on February 6. It will be the first manned mission since the Apollo program ended in 1972. The space agency added that the launch window will remain open from January 31 to February 14, with a few other dates also being kept in reserve. The launch on February 6 will depend on several factors, including the weather. If the Artemis II mission is not launched on the said date, attempts would be made on February 7, 8, 10, and 11. Other backup dates are also being worked out, NASA said. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a 10-day journey around the moon and back to Earth. The mission will neither orbit nor land on the Moon, and will instead only involve a close flyby.

Artemis II launch in February

The Artemis II launch will happen from Cape Canaveral, with the astronauts on board an Orion spacecraft, carried by NASA's powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket system. The spacecraft will first orbit Earth a few times to test the life support equipment. If all goes well, it will then shoot towards the Moon. Here, a close flyby will occur after which Orion will return to Earth. This will be the first time in 53 years that humans will leave low Earth orbit and move out into space. The return has been planned to lower dependency on the cogs and machines. Orion will use the Moon's gravity to slingshot towards Earth. So if anything goes wrong, the spacecraft would still manage to return.

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Artemis II is like a trial mission before humans actually set foot on the Moon once again. It is meant to check the spacecraft, the systems, safety and support equipment and the feasibility of going that far. Artemis III will finally take humans to the Moon once again, and hopefully land them successfully. Meanwhile, the first phase of Artemis II starts January 17, when the fully stacked SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will "roll out" from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Centre. Test launches will be carried out at Cape Canaveral, complete with a fake countdown. Later, the fuel will be safely drained until the final day of the launch.