Artemis II Moon Mission

This Artemis II mission marks to return of humankind to the vicinity of the Moon after a lapse of over 50 years. This 10 day mission will carry four astronauts on a free-return trajectory around the Moon and back to Earth. The spacecraft consists of the NASA SLS Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft capsule. Both systems were checked out in the unmanned Artemis I mission. Artemis II will launch from the Kennedy Space Center, Launch Complex 39B into Earth orbit. After about 24 hours, the Orion spacecraft will head to a loop around the Moon and back to Earth, landing in the Pacific Ocean. Apollo 8 few a similar mission in December of 1968 and preceded the successful lunar landing the next year.